Atlantic Forest Stories

For years, communities, individuals, and organizations have pulled together to restore the Atlantic Forest. Known as the Trinational Atlantic Forest Pact, their urgent and vital work is now officially declared by the United Nations as one of the 10 World Restoration Flagship Initiatives.

To restore a forest landscape—one that will thrive for generations into the future—every detail must be planned and adapted over time.

Many new projects emphasize community engagement at all stages and focus on priority areas where restoration can connect the Atlantic Forest’s remaining fragments and help restore water resources.

As restoration coordinator for forest restoration organization Copaíba, Mayra Flores works manages activities on the ground to bring forest recovery projects to life.

On a hilltop in southeast Brazil, 4,500 feet above the surrounding landscape, is a coffee plantation that has been operating in the same family for more than 150 years—five generations. Owner Ellen Fontana is restoring additional forest habitat on her property, connecting the span of natural forest on her land to another forest fragment on a neighboring property.

In an ambitious undertaking, WWF and International Paper (IP) are working alongside a local nursery to help restore parts of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, which has faced of years of deforestation.

While the Amazon is the largest and most well-known rain forest in South America, there’s another rain forest in the region that’s also important: the critically threatened Atlantic Forest.