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Interview with Jessica Harper, Program Coordinator, Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research Center February 21, 2006
JH: From what I have seen, nobody has figured out yet how to truly live sustainably in our area of Brazil, however Iracambi is on the right track, and just by setting up a research center and NGO dedicated to figuring this out, Iracambi is recognized and appreciated by many partners in the area. Iracambi's experiments in alternative farming practices and land use have potential to integrate environmental, economic and social well-being of the land and the people in Minas Gerais. A specific example is the research and work done in medicinal plants and agroforestry at Iracambi, which as you mention has the potential to ensure the health of the land and livelihoods for local families. The community recognizes Iracambi's efforts to search for alternatives, and with the facilitation and trust created by our skilled Medicinal Plants Project manager, many people have participated in the project by contributing local knowledge of medicinal plants, helping to survey the area, making experimental products, or coming to workshops to discuss future business plans. The appreciation is mutual, and together we are committed to ensuring the beauty and productivity of the land. BTF: Obviously your volunteers, totaling over 400 throughout Iracambi's history, come from varied locals and backgrounds. This having been said, please provide a portrait of your average volunteer. What are their motivations for becoming involved with the project? How would you characterize the financial circumstances of most? What are some of the most dramatic ways your volunteers change or develop during their stay at Iracambi? JH: In my opinion, the volunteers who come through Iracambi are our most valuable asset! They provide us with energy, new ideas, and most importantly they assist in the ideological development of Iracambi. After all, it is our mission "to work with our neighbors to make the conservation of the Atlantic Forest more attractive than its destruction" that draws them here, and it is they who give us drive and focus. The diversity of the group is also a strength, but our average volunteer is in his/her mid-20s, comes from an academic background that provides them with a base for understanding Iracambi's work, and is looking to apply their skills to a real-life situation where they can make a difference. Most people save in their "real" jobs so that they can come to Iracambi for a couple of months, and the majority find it an incredible experience. Iracambi provides an avenue for an experience that most people could never achieve on their own; participating in the development of a rural community (2 hours walking from the nearest town!) and the conservation of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, and doing it together with other inspiring volunteers and Brazilians. Volunteers come away having glimpsed a different life, but if they are perceptive, they also gain a personal understanding of the shared connections and challenges that people have anywhere in the world, no matter how different things may look on the surface. BTF: There is recent evidence from the US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, many scientists have associated with global warming, is accelerating. This could very well be due to self-reinforcing feedback loops such as higher temperatures melting Siberian permafrost and releasing large amounts of previously frozen greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Along with significant emission reductions, the world's forests bear the responsibility of stabilizing this trend by absorbing carbon dioxide. Do you see Iracambi's forest preservation and propagation program as fundamentally local or global? Does news on climate change give your mission a greater sense of urgency? JH: Great question! My personal understanding of ecology (and development, for that matter) makes it impossible for me not to see Iracambi's work in a global context. Overconsumption in the Global North, international market policies, environmentally-destructive habits and the Brazilian education system all play a role in the situation of the Atlantic Forest in Minas Gerais. Conversely, as you said, the world's forests end up with the burden of equilibrium, as do the people who live in them. Therefore, Iracambi's projects, aimed at stimulating local positive change, will have a much broader impact. In fact, Iracambi is in the initial stages of making that link from local to global with two projects in Payment for Environmental Services. We are currently interested in developing schemes through which farmers will gain economic incentives for reforesting and maintaining legally protected areas. Government funds that are often channeled to "development" of industries in urban areas, would be diverted to conserving the water and carbon needed to maintain this urban development. BTF: I'm obligated to ask about funding. What portion of your financial support comes from private donors and how much is corporate? Who are your major contributors and how did your relationship with them come about? JH: At our current stage as an NGO and Research Center, our activities are almost entirely supported by private contributions, including generous contributions made by past volunteers and researchers. Exceptions include grants for our Environmental Education Program by Partners of the Americas, and a grant from the Manfred Hermsen Stiftung Foundation in Germany, which supports our Medicinal Plants Project. Through this project, Iracambi is collaborating with WWF as a trial site for the development of the International Standards and Criteria for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP). Our Forest Futures Program is sponsored by the Innocent Foundation, UK. However, Iracambi as an NGO currently receives no corporate funding. We are investigating possible long-term relationships with institutions and/or corporations that have appropriate missions and ethical standards that fit with our work. BTF: Using whatever units of measurement you deem appropriate (hectares, acres, trees planted, etc), Please provide a sense of the scope and scale of the forest corridors project. How large are the units of land you're working with? What does your realistic timeline for the future look like and what kinds of goals are on it? JH: At this stage, we have almost collected enough support through Forest Futures to purchase and protect a 90-hectare area of degraded farmland adjacent to Iracambi's property, and in a strategic location for possible creation of productive forest corridors. The goal of Forest Futures is similar to many land trusts around the world, to acquire property and legally protect it. However, Iracambi has extended that vision to include agroforestry, with the hope that one day reforestation can be effectively integrated into the sustainable development of the local land and livelihoods. Realistically, Iracambi hopes to purchase its first large plot of land through Forest Futures this spring, and start the lengthy process to categorize it legally as an Environmentally Protected Area. Long-term goals for this project are dependent on contributions, but the possibilities are endless! |