00:00It's such a beautiful tree. The Arucaria is a symbol of the forest.
00:19It towers over the other trees and has this distinct, iconic shape.
00:25For me personally, the flood in November 2023 was catastrophic.
00:40Carolina was alone at home when the historic flash flood hit the upper valley of the Itajaí River.
00:49When I got the news that the Arucarias my grandfather had planted when my father was a teenager,
00:55had been swept away, along with the whole slope, it was absolutely terrifying.
01:03That's when I understood in my heart that climate change is catastrophic.
01:08Not just in my head, but in my heart.
01:11The Atlantic forest in southern Brazil.
01:20This group of visitors is in for a surprise.
01:26They're about to learn that the forest they're walking through didn't exist 20 years ago.
01:31It was planted by Carolina Schaeffer's family.
01:41My father is partly responsible for the fact that today in Brazil we have a law protecting the Arucaria forests.
01:48He and my mother worked long and hard to get that law passed.
01:51It was a day-to-day day-to-day to approve this legislation.
01:56In 2006, Brazil introduced the Atlantic Forest Act after decades of struggle.
02:03Before that, deforestation was systematic.
02:07Ninety percent of the original forest area is classed as destroyed.
02:16But it is possible to restore forest, as the story of the Schaeffer family shows.
02:23In their home state, Santa Catarina, they're slowly but surely changing the landscape.
02:29We're starting to think bigger and also getting more and more companies on board to put reforestation into practice properly.
02:40We want to restore more areas and also strengthen existing forests, bring back biodiversity and revitalize these forests.
02:48Their work also includes restoring farmland.
02:57Today, more than 130 saplings are to be planted here.
03:02Carolina and the team only plant trees that are native to the Atlantic Forest.
03:08Farmer Van der Leymers is well prepared.
03:12From now on, his cattle will stay behind the fence.
03:16For over 50 years, they compacted the soil here so much that now heavy equipment is needed to ensure the saplings can flourish.
03:24And a handful of fertilizer.
03:28The team plants the trees in a designated open area and also in the small patch of the forest where there's a water source.
03:40Over the next two years, the trees will need watering. After that, they can cope on their own.
03:45My mother says that people who plant trees are often happy people. For me, the act of planting together with others is always very joyful.
03:58They've chosen over 40 plant species. Esthetics also play a role. The yellow ipe has pride of place.
04:08It's a really vibrant yellow, absolutely beautiful. Planting yellow ipe makes the farms prettier.
04:15The seedlings, the team's expertise and even the fence are provided free of charge to Van der Leymers and his wife Josefa.
04:25Theirs is a typical farm. 25 hectares of land with some corn, onions, soy and cattle.
04:34Few trees and a clear sense that the weather is changing fundamentally.
04:38We already get severe droughts and heavy rains. And when it doesn't rain, you have to irrigate. Otherwise, you can't grow anything.
04:50And if you don't have water, what then? How is that supposed to work? So this here will help us.
04:58Many people in agribusiness say it takes land away from us. But in fact, it should help.
05:08Trees protect water sources. A strong argument for convincing farmers to reforest.
05:15Everyone here at the table comes from the region. That builds trust.
05:20Van der Leym and Josefa are part of a larger project that Carolina and her team are doing with a partner in Europe.
05:26They conduct a detailed reforestation analysis for each farm.
05:31The project allows the partner company to offset its CO2 emissions.
05:38Everything we do here, from the first contact to the planting, the CO2 payment and all project documentation, we send to the certification body.
05:49They then commission independent auditors who will come here at some point.
05:54They'll check whether what we claim to be doing is really happening.
06:00The farmer wonders why a company far away in Europe would pay for him to plant trees and leave them standing.
06:09But ultimately…
06:10It's an incentive. I see it like this. If you didn't get anything for it, you wouldn't do it. That's how things start.
06:19The couple receives 500 euros a year for the 6 hectares of land they put in the project. 28 farmers are on board so far.
06:29We as APROMAVI have always worked in partnership with farmers. We believe that working with small farmers is vital if we're really going to make a difference, raise environmental awareness at community level and create micro corridors of forest.
06:47But a project on this scale changes the dimensions. In the past, we had projects aiming to restore 300 hectares. Now we're talking about 7,000 hectares.
07:04This is another reality in the region. According to law, river banks in Brazil are permanently protected areas.
07:12On farms of this size, the banks are supposed to be planted with a band of vegetation at least 5 to 8 meters wide.
07:21Brazil aims to reforest and restore 12 million hectares of degraded land.
07:28According to an international study, the Atlantic forest has exceptional potential.
07:33Right now, it's highly fragmented but extremely biodiverse.
07:37The Amazon basin is likewise important, especially as a carbon sink.
07:46Scientists also see great restoration potential in the Congo basin and Central Africa.
07:55As well as in parts of South Asia.
07:59Wetlands and marshes around the world are also included.
08:04In terms of biodiversity, climate protection and cost management, restoration efforts in these regions would have the greatest impact.
08:16If we were to restore just 15% of these areas, we could prevent up to 60% of the looming species' extinction.
08:27And slow down climate change.
08:39Here in Santa Catarina, most of our remaining forest areas are so-called empty forests.
08:44That means they are no longer suitable as habitats for many wild animals.
08:54They provide too little food, insufficient shelter and biodiversity.
08:59Carolina and her father are walking along a boundary.
09:04On the right is forest that they planted.
09:06When her parents began campaigning for forest protection in their homeland decades ago, they faced resistance and incomprehension.
09:17As her father says, even with laws, it's hard to protect forests in Brazil. Without them, it's impossible.
09:25We restored this forest 35 years ago, when Carolina was born.
09:34When I was born.
09:37Back then, the forest had only a few trees. Most of it was pasture land.
09:46The cattle roamed free. There were no small or medium-sized trees.
09:49We planted trees and, above all, prevented the cattle from continuing to weaken the area.
09:55Today, we have a forest with rich biodiversity that has regenerated well.
10:00I have this opportunity to work with my parents.
10:21Both are recognized and respected by many people for their work.
10:24That is truly a privilege.
10:28But, of course, sometimes we argue a bit.
10:34There's a generational changeover.
10:40Sometimes we have different ideas.
10:43Some years ago, Carolina started taking on more responsibility in the organization her parents founded nearly 40 years ago.
10:51She's now guiding Aprimavi into a new phase, with a major project in the carbon market.
10:59CO2 offset projects are controversial because of repeated cases of fraud.
11:06This is also a way of standing up against all the projects hit by scandals.
11:12That's why it's so important for us to keep going and to show it is possible.
11:16You can develop CO2 projects that truly make a difference, with the participation of many people, with social benefits, advantages for biodiversity and water resources.
11:28That's our main motivation to stay active in the carbon market.
11:32The project also gives them planning security for the coming years.
11:43They are now responsible for 40 employees as well as small suppliers.
11:49Aprimavi has become an important employer in the region and currently pays the most taxes on services in the municipality.
11:57Family life and work are all mixed in together.
12:04It's serious business, with many partners and people involved.
12:11We really have to learn to work together.
12:16That's not always easy because it also means listening.
12:21You really have to listen to what the person next to you at the table is saying.
12:26You have to seek dialogue and sometimes leave your comfort zone.
12:30You have to understand that the other person may think very differently to you.
12:37That means investing time in the work, in convincing others.
12:41But also simply realizing, wait a minute, what the other person says makes sense too.
12:46It makes sense.
12:51They recently bought this forested land with funds from the carbon project.
12:56Today they want to start measuring how much CO2 is stored here.
13:06We first have to clear a bit here, so we can mark out the plots.
13:10The team is experienced. They stake out 10 by 30 meter plots.
13:22This is how the so-called inventory is recorded.
13:26And now the hammer.
13:31Within these plots, they only count the trees that have trunks with a circumference of more than 15 centimeters.
13:38It's a bit of a battle to even get through.
13:51Right now there's a lot of this bamboo species, taguara.
13:55It spreads especially fast when the forest is very damaged.
13:59But when the taguara dies off, the opposite happens.
14:02The forest regains control and the taguara no longer dominates, like it does now.
14:08Another way of figuring out the species of a tree.
14:12They record the species, the height of the tree, and the trunk's circumference at breast height.
14:19The basis for calculations.
14:22It all goes pretty quickly.
14:25That's 70, and I'd say 16 meters high.
14:28The team divides the trees into different groups depending on the characteristics of their trunks.
14:40Some store more carbon, others less.
14:44A specific formula is used for each group to calculate density and carbon content.
14:49That's our star today.
15:03A fennelwood tree, 10 meters tall.
15:0672 circumference.
15:08An endangered species.
15:09We already have quite a lot of tall trees here, which means a good amount of carbon is being stored.
15:24But in the undergrowth, there's still quite a lot of taguara, many ferns and plenty of young trees that are under a meter tall.
15:32And they will grow quite quickly in the next few years.
15:37That means the carbon stock here will increase significantly over the next five years.
15:42Carolina sees an urgent need to create more space for forest and reclaim land.
15:56They already look after larger areas, including ones exceeding 1,000 hectares, but hope to expand that more.
16:04In Brazil, private land can be permanently designated as a nature reserve.
16:09They want to do that with all their areas.
16:19At the heart of their work is the tree nursery.
16:23The failure rate of seedlings in the wild is relatively low, about 10%.
16:29Over the years, they have gained a lot of experience and knowledge,
16:35and planted around 10 million trees.
16:42The nursery started out very small and simple, with plastic containers, beds directly on the ground.
16:51In 2019, we completely changed the technology.
16:57Today, we use paper pots that can be planted directly into the ground with a young plant.
17:03You can already see the roots coming out, so you don't even need to remove the packaging.
17:09These containers are now filled by machine, before it was all manual labor.
17:15Now the machine does up to 2,000 per hour.
17:18I hope we'll have something like this in Recife one day.
17:29Many visitors come away inspired.
17:34Some have even started their own tree nursery, or a small project, or simply planted a tree for the first time.
17:47What keeps us from giving up is the work itself.
17:57When you go into the nursery and see the little saplings growing, ready and waiting to be planted, that gives you hope.
18:05It feels good. You feel that every single tree makes a difference.
18:12Whether in a garden, someone's backyard, a small grove, or a large reforestation project.
18:20No matter where it's planted.
18:22It's this connection that keeps giving you energy to carry on.
18:30Even when at times, it's exhausting and difficult.
18:35This mission, which sometimes is hard.
18:37There is a lot expected of me.
18:54But I also expect a lot from myself.
18:59I don't want to disappoint my parents.
19:02I don't want to disappoint the team.
19:03Or make decisions that might take Apromavi off its successful path.
19:12This is my family's legacy.
19:33This is my father.
19:34I felt me wuring a 있잖아요.
19:35So, in this situation.
19:36This is the owner of my faith.
19:43I don't know.
19:46So now, my family's house is now very different kind of, it's here and sometimes don't55.
19:50Let's begin!
19:52A beautiful
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