The Global Trees Campaign is a partnership between:
PAST SUCCESSES
Education for the Conservation of Threatened Species in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil
The São Paulo Botanic Garden is within the Ipiranga Springs State Park (PEFI), the municipality’s third largest forest fragment, which is a part of the Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve. The park lies within the metropolitan area of the fourth largest city in the world and serves as a recreational and educational area for its 17 million inhabitants. The park hosts 1,159 plant species, 36 of which are listed as threatened.
This situation provides a great opportunity for raising awareness about the natural world and its importance in maintaining human quality of life. The garden provides environmental education for 29,000 visitors each year 12,000 of whom go on guided tours of the site. This project was carried in with support from BGCI under the HSBC Investing in Nature partnership.
Outcomes
The development of the River Ipiranga Spring Trail, a 360-metre elevated trail with three observation areas, offering visitors a fantastic opportunity to walk through a patch of forest with many large trees, palmito palms, vines and bromeliads. Visitors may even be lucky enough to spot animals such as monkey, toucan and sloth before reaching a spring, source of the river Ipiranga, and seeing the clear water flow out from the ground.
Botanic Garden Interpretation was a focus of the project, and signs with information and interesting facts about the plants were developed all around the garden. Illustrations and simple texts, in Portuguese and English, encourage visitors to walk around the garden and search for further information. An Endangered Species trail leads visitors to endangered species growing in the Botanic Garden and presents information on why they are threatened and how to preserve them.
Building awareness in the surrounding areas. The project also specifically targeted schools in the area surrounding the Botanic Garden to increase their awareness and commitment to help conserve the remaining Atlantic Forest. Work was carried out in five schools in the region, outcomes including 150 teachers trained and 5,000 students visiting the Botanic Garden. A teaching garden containing threatened species from the Atlantic Forest habitat was created in each school.
