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The Zurich Forest Project - 1 million trees for the Atlantic Forest

The Zurich Forest Project - 1 million trees for the Atlantic Forest

Pledge by

Zurich Insurance Group

Reforestation done right: Reforestation sponsorship supporting the work of Instituto Terra in Brazil

Type
Restoring & Growing, Enabling
This pledge will take place from
2020 to 2028
Location
Brazil

Company website

Pledge overview

The Zurich Forest is a project in collaboration with Instituto Terra, a non-profit organization founded in 1998 by Lélia and Sebastião Salgado in Brazil. Zurich has specifically chosen a collaboration with Instituto Terra to help rebuild a key area of biodiversity and raise awareness of the plight of what’s known as ‘the other Brazilian rainforest’: Instituto Terra aims to re-create native forests, restore the biodiversity of plants and animals, protect soil, and to revive and maintain water sources on the former cattle farm “Bulcão” in the Doce river valley in Brazil. Zurich’s grant covers the planting of one million seedlings of up to 120 scientifically selected native species, supporting the growth of healthy native forest.

Actions in this pledge

  • Restoring and growing trees and forest landscapes

    Supporting actions
    Reforestation
    Re-establishment of forest through planting and/or deliberate seeding on land classified as forest, that has been degraded or where trees are unlikely to regenerate naturally
    Other restoration and tree growing activities
    Recovery of natural water sources, community engagement and research and education
    Additional details

    Kick off in 2020 with specific sponsorship of Instituto Terra over an 8 year period. Close collaboration and annual reporting. Intention to expand our engagement on sustainable (re)forestation and biodiversity protection both in scale and geographically.

    Restoring & Growing

    Land area
    700 hectares

  • Enabling activities for trees and forest landscapes

    Supporting actions
    Nursery and seedling development
    Establish tree nurseries, including actions such as identification and collection of seeds and/or growing seedlings
    Sustainable forest management
    Activities that support the stewardship and use of forests (including by local communities and indigenous peoples), to maintain their biological diversity, productivity, and regeneration capacity, as well as their potential to fulfil relevant ecological economic and social functions
    Data collection, management and technological tools
    Activities that provide data and/or technological tools to support conservation and restoration (e.g. monitoring etc.)
    Additional details

    Close collaboration with Instituto Terra with regular updates and an audited annual report.

    Enabling

Carbon benefits

1 million tonnes CO2e over 8 years

Our ecologically and socially responsible approach

Instituto Terra is recognised as a Private Reserve of Natural Estate (PRNE) created in a degraded area. It is dedicated to environmental restoration and sustainable rural development in Vale do Rio Doce. Their main activities encompass the recovery of the ecosystem, environmental expansion, environmental education and the development of sustainable business.

Our results tracking

Annual reporting (number of species, employees employed, trees planted, etc)

Ecological metrics

Biodiversity protection and re-creation

Social metrics

Employment and jobs

Our partners

Instituto Terra

Our locations

We are working at locations across Brazil.

Focusing in areas of tropical dry forest: Mata Atlantica, Doce river valley in Brazil

Our implementation progress

Pledge implementation progress reporting is managed in collaboration with IUCN’s Restoration Barometer, and is required annually from the year following pledge publication.