Help support Marco Lima and his colleagues at the Amazon Seed Bank replant some of the burned areas of Brazilian Amazon rainforest.  This replanting work is in collaboration with affected indigenous tribes and river communities.  These projects also involve outreach/education to these Amazon communities.

The Amazon rainforest is one of the world’s most precious resources, and in recent years there has been massive destruction of virgin Amazon rainforest due to fires for illegal cattle ranching, agriculture, logging, and mining. Protecting and replanting burned areas of the Amazon is critical in the fight against climate change, as well as for the people, plants and animals of the Amazon.  

 

In his research work as an Ichthyologist (fish scientist), Marco Lima noticed how detrimental fires are for fish of the Amazon, and all the other life.  He started the Amazon Seed Bank in Manaus, Brazil, which now has over 30,000 different species of plant seeds.   Through his Seed Bank work, Marco and others and have been working to replant burned areas of the Amazon for the last 4 years, completing 32 projects so far.  Marco has been working primarily with fellow scientific researchers, Agnaldo Paiva and Mara Fonseca, along with graduate students from the University of Manaus.   Agnaldo works with plants, including trees, orchids, and air plants.  They always plant a mix of native hardwoods, other trees, and diverse canopy plants - never invasive species.   Mara is the seed specialist, as well as the social environmental director who connects the team to communities and educational programs. Marco and his team are reputable, dedicated, and passionate about this work.  

Marco and his team always work directly with indigenous tribes and river people to do this work.   They currently have a standby list of 22 Amazon tribes that need help to build seed banks, seedling stations, and all the reforestry preparatory steps. Before planting, communities requesting help are encouraged to save and germinate seeds, as well as collect baby seedlings from the forest.  Each project normally requires 2 trips - the first for seed and plant collection, the second for planting. (See pictures below). He currently has trips planned for January and February 2022. He will be working with the Urueu Uau Uau and the Surui Tribes. In order to do this very important work, they rely on sponsors. Often, funds are short and they have to cancel or postpone projects due to a lack of funds.

Please join in this effort and become a sponsor to this important Amazon reforestation work.  When you donate money to this campaign, it goes directly to the people doing this critical work - no bureaucratic waste.  I hope to raise $10,000 for the  next 2 projects.  I plan to update this site with photos and information about the work done on the upcoming  planned trips, and information about future trips.  


Marco Lima has worked with National Geographic several times (most recently in October 2018 article, "Isolated Nomads Are Under Siege in the Amazon Jungle"). More recently he worked with InsideClimateNews.org magazine on this article entitled, "The Amazon is the Planet’s Counterweight to Global Warming, a Place of Stupefying Richness Under Relentless Assault," which just came out December 2021:
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19122021/amazon-rainforest-brazil-jair-bolsonaro-climate-change/