Brazil

Volunteering in an Atlantic rainforest project, summer 2000  

In the summer of 2000, we went to work on a farm (Iracambi Fazenda) in the state of Minais Gerais, Brazil. Iracambi is looking into the possibility of applying the principles of sustainable development in Brazil, to improve agricultural productivity while taking the conservation of the fast disappearing Atlantic rainforest into consideration. Our job was to contribute to the educational program. Pauliina worked on the educational side of the children's trail, while I drew animal signs for it. On leaving Finland, our initial expectations were high: we had been to Kibale National Park in Uganda, and were expecting to see huge troops of monkey together with array of colorful birds, you name it.. However, shortly after arriving there we were somewhat disillusioned: the place was not really a patch of rainforest teeming with wildlife: the forest was mostly secondary (planted mostly by the owners and volunteers) and wildlife was very limited. Moreover, we were constantly kept hungry and the living conditions (the shack in the foreground, as shown in the picture) were horrendous: cold as hell at night, teeming with mites and rodents. Soon it also became evident that we would be able to to do very little about saving the remaining forests there. Nevertheless, in retrospect we had an unforgettable experience, and we were truly impressed by the efforts taken by the farm to bring sustainable development into the backwoods to change the attitudes to nature conservation. Keep up the good work!