Ana Paola & Flavia Balderi
Copaiba – Sao Paulo, Brazil
Sisters Ana Paula and Flávia Balderi founded Copaíba as teenagers in 2009. Horrified by the deforestation around their area, they decided to take matters into their own hands by planting trees around their hometown. Soon they turned their passion into an association which at first they funded with jobs in delivery services and barkeeping.
Named after an oil resin derived from the trunk of several native South American trees, Copaíba is one of the 300 tree-planting projects in the umbrella organisation PACTO Mata Atlântica.
The Atlantic Forest in southeastern Brazil is one of the most endangered and biodiverse biomes in the world. Through environmental education programs, public policies, native tree seedling production and ecological restoration, Copaíba brings back the Atlantic forest!
Copaíba has been active in the conservation and restoration of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica) for 20 years, bringing the green back to the Peixe and Camanducaia watershed in São Paulo, Brazil. Since its foundation (1999), Copaíba has been developing integrated actions in the environmental area: Restoration of 4,000,000 m2 of Atlantic Forest in the region by planting 580,000 native saplings. 2 million of seedlings of 160 native species have been produced in the Copaíba Forest Nursery. 40,000 students and landowners involved in environmental education work. 80,000 outreach kits have been distributed. Around of 3,000 people were involved with educational plantations. In 2019 Copaíba received the award of the best environmental Brazillian NGO from Institut Doar.
Peixe and Camanducaia watershed are part of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered biomes in the world, due to human occupation; the most part of Atlantic Forest regional has been cleared. Much of the initial devastation was caused by coffee growing, which after the decline has been replaced to this day by pasture, annual crops and buildings.
As a women-led organization, they are an inspiration to other women taking issues into their own hands. They also believe in the power of education. Copaiba often takes in students to explain the process of seed collection, how to properly store them and how to plant a tree.
The erosion box: As you can see in the picture, a first box is filled with soil from their surrounding lands. The soil in this box is dry, with no vegetation. A second one is also filled with soil but some small trees and plants have been planted in it. When we poured water on both boxes we were astonished at what happened next. The water dribbling from the green box came out clean. It seemed the plants in it had filtered it through their roots and it was coming out clear. By contrast, the other box’s water had a brown-yellowish colour. That’s a lesson I will never forget.
“Planting trees, why aren’t you?”
Video 1) Brazil: Reforestation to replenish water supplies
Video 2) Women-Led Effort to Restore Brazil’s Atlantic Forest
Website: Copaiba
