{"id":82450,"date":"2025-12-22T17:39:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T20:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=82450"},"modified":"2025-12-25T17:43:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T20:43:47","slug":"were-planting-the-future-reforestation-collective-action-in-salgueiro-recovers-land-prone-to-fires-and-landslides-with-native-atlantic-forest-fruit-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=82450","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re Planting the Future\u2019: Reforestation Collective Action in Salgueiro Recovers Land Prone to Fires and Landslides with Native Atlantic Forest Fruit Trees"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"In<\/a>
In addition to promoting knowledge exchange among residents, community organizers and volunteers, Time to Plant’s action sought to ensure effective environmental recovery. Photo: Amanda Baroni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"This article is part of a\u00a0<\/i><\/i>series<\/a>\u00a0created in partnership with the\u00a0Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies<\/a>\u00a0at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the\u00a0Digital Brazil Project<\/a>\u00a0on environmental justice in the favelas through RioOnWatch.<\/em><\/p>\n

On December 7, environmental agents, local organizers, residents and visitors gathered at Morro do Salgueiro<\/a>, a favela in Tijuca<\/a>, in Rio de Janeiro\u2019s North Zone<\/a>, for a collective action<\/a>\u00a0reforesting local Atlantic Forest<\/a> land. The activity, organized by Salgueiro’s very own Time to Plant Regenerative Movement<\/a> (Tempo de Plantar), was part of the Sustainable Favela Network\u2019s (SFN<\/a>)* Collective Calendar, aiming to restore an area called Caixa D\u2019\u00e1gua de Faustino. Situated on one of Salgueiro\u2019s highest points, the reforested area is frequently affected by fires<\/a> and landslides.<\/p>\n

Robson Basilio, the resident responsible for Salgueiro\u2019s Time to Plant initiative, explained that this action is essential to reduce heat and prevent landslides<\/a> in the community, both common occurrences in the region during summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe come here, we plant\u2026 I’m always finding and planting saplings, even when there\u2019s no [organized] action [going on]. I\u2019ve been at this for over 20 years, in this rush. We’re always trying to plant. I take five or ten little saplings, go [plant them across the community] and done. We can\u2019t leave any empty spaces, because when we came into this world, they were already here. So, we have to preserve<\/a> [them].\u201d \u2014 Robson Bas\u00edlio<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Collective<\/a>
Collective Action in Morro do Salgueiro recovers an area that has been impacted by fires. Pictured above is Robson Bas\u00edlio from Time to Plant. Photo: Amanda Baroni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Salgueiro is frequently affected by spontaneous fires during the dry season. The action aimed to restore soil moisture using materials that retain water and planted over 130 medium-sized saplings, mostly fruit trees, to prevent erosion. Some of the species planted included ju\u00e7ara palm, ice cream bean, Surinam cherry, grumixama, araza, Brazilian peppertree, guava, jabuticaba (Brazilian berry) and cambuci.<\/p>\n

The reforestation effort is part of a national action undertaken by Time to Plant, which has been organizing volunteers across Brazil since 2019 to plant on the first Sunday of December, a period that traditionally sees the highest rainfall in the tropical climate.<\/p>\n

For Glaucio Goncalves, gardener and resident of Salgueiro, this action has a variety of benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Planting] gets rid of garbage dumps\u2026 and stops landslides. And it’s therapy, right? Working with plants is satisfying. I feel gratified. It really is good.\u201d \u2014 Gl\u00e1ucio Gon\u00e7alves<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Bringing<\/a>
Bringing together participants from different favelas, the collective action aimed to prevent landslides and mitigate the community’s heat. Photo: Amanda Baroni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Participants from other communities also shared positive impressions of the gathering. Marcia Greice, a resident of the Morro do Fogueteiro<\/a> favela, in Santa Teresa<\/a>, a neighborhood in Rio’s central region<\/a>, said that what she learned during the action can help her community, which is still susceptible to landslides.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came today because I\u2019d also really like to learn. How to treat [the soil], how to care [for it]\u2026 To me, plants are life. I also came for the importance of\u2026 [learning to prevent] landslides, you see? [In my community] we used to have a lot of them. But that’s because the soil there is also [mixed with] red clay, yellow clay. We still have a little piece of land that\u2019s very vulnerable. So, we also need to [learn and do] all of this there. To look after it more [carefully], you know?\u201d \u2014 Marcia Greice<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"The<\/a>
The gathering represented an opportunity for exchange between favela socio-environmental projects. Pictured above is Marcia Greice, one of the participants and a resident of Fogueteiro favela. Photo: Amanda Baroni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Collective Action in the Present for the Future<\/h3>\n

In addition to encouraging planting, the collective action also sought to encourage ongoing actions, with periodic maintenance, in order to ensure effective environmental recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is to encourage this resilience. Continuing [these actions] and bringing more people in is what really makes [change] happen, you know? Which is super important. It\u2019s not enough to just go and plant. We have to stay in one place, come back every three months, see how it\u2019s doing and have someone responsible who can keep things going.\u201d \u2014 Gil Pires, environmental manager and project participant<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This view is reiterated by Jana\u00edna Soares, member<\/a> of the local Salgueiro Herb Growers Collective<\/a>. To her, planting is a form of cultivating knowledge that bridges generations, maintaining not only respect for nature but also for one\u2019s ancestors and descendants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is good because we\u2019re bringing our ancestral knowledge<\/a> and we want to keep this going so that the younger generation can follow our example and continue this in the future. So that they are able to make some [cough] syrup, make [medicinal] tea for their children, their nieces and nephews. So I\u2019m here because I think it\u2019s really nice for us to do this, hands-on, for our community, right? We\u2019re planting tomorrow, we\u2019re planting the future.\u201d \u2014 Jana\u00edna Soares<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Action<\/a>
Action in Salgueiro planted around 130 saplings to protect and restore a sensitive area in the community. Photo: Amanda Baroni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Edith Barcelos, physiologist and Time to Plant volunteer, said that it is in the actions of today that we cultivate positive perspectives for the communities of the future. She added that, \u201cdespite it being hard work,\u201d reforesting is the greatest legacy<\/a> someone can leave for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the people here in the community was saying that, when they got here, at first theirs was a shack made of tarp, cardboard. Today it\u2019s a house. Now, imagine if these people are able to project a future where they have a house with a beautiful wooded area behind it, cool, with water coming from the spring? This is why we organized this specific action here in Salgueiro, today, to mobilize people about what reforestation is and that, actually, maintenance is even more important\u2014because reforestation is a lot of work. I think about this all the time: when I die, I\u2019ll have planted a bunch of trees, a little bit of me will be in each tree I\u2019ve planted. So, you die, but you die less, you know? Because a little bit of you will be in the things you’ve spread.\u201d \u2014 Edith Barcelos<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The collective action in Morro do Salgueiro included ten volunteers from other favelas in Rio de Janeiro, such as Morro da Formiga<\/a>, Morro do Fogueteiro and Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a>. These actions are open to the public. To keep up with the program, access the project\u2019s Instagram page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

*The Sustainable Favela Network (SFN) and RioOnWatch are both initiatives realized by not-for-profit organization Catalytic Communities (CatComm).<\/em><\/p>\n

About the author:\u00a0Amanda Baroni Lopes<\/a>\u00a0is a journalism student at Unicarioca and was part of the first Journalism Laboratory organized by Mar\u00e9\u2019s community newspaper\u00a0Mar\u00e9 de Not\u00edcias<\/a>. She is the author of the\u00a0Anti-Harassment Guide on Breaking<\/a>, a handbook that explains what is and isn\u2019t harassment to the Hip Hop audience and provides guidance on what to do in these situations. Lopes is from\u00a0Morro do Timbau<\/a>\u00a0and currently lives in\u00a0Vila do Jo\u00e3o<\/a>, both favelas within the larger Mar\u00e9 favela complex.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Support\u00a0<\/b>RioOnWatch<\/i><\/b>\u2019s tireless, critical and cutting-edge hyperlocal journalism, online community organizing meetings, and direct support to favelas\u00a0<\/b>by clicking here.<\/a><\/b><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas This article is part of a\u00a0series\u00a0created in partnership with the\u00a0Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies\u00a0at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the\u00a0Digital Brazil Project\u00a0on environmental justice in the favelas […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":82451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288,1328,1290,1333,1271,329,452],"tags":[244,3774,168,219,258,280,474,385,886,151,288,116,117,3707,37,199,906,3011,2840,471,1350],"writer":[3501],"translator":[3560],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[3706],"class_list":{"0":"post-82450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-by-community-contributors","9":"category-civilsociety","10":"category-event-reports","11":"category-favelaqualities","12":"category-solutions","13":"category-rio20","14":"tag-agroecology","15":"tag-ancestral-knowledge","16":"tag-centro","17":"tag-collective-action","18":"tag-community-solution","19":"tag-complexo-da-mare","20":"tag-environment","21":"tag-environmental-education","22":"tag-fire","23":"tag-landslide-risk","24":"tag-mata-atlantica","25":"tag-morro-da-formiga","26":"tag-morro-do-fogueteiro","27":"tag-nature-based-solutions","28":"tag-north-zone","29":"tag-reforestation","30":"tag-salgueiro","31":"tag-series-human-rights-with-support-from-the-behner-stiefel-center-at-sdsu","32":"tag-series-sfn-exchanges","33":"tag-sustainability","34":"tag-tijuca","35":"writer-amanda-baroni-lopes","36":"translator-kay-alvito","37":"photographer-amanda-baroni-lopes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=82450"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82525,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82450\/revisions\/82525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=82450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=82450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=82450"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=82450"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=82450"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=82450"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=82450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}