Eco-restoration startup Biomas has launched a reforestation project in Brazil that aims to revive 1,200 hectares of degraded Atlantic rainforest in the Bahia region.
Leveraging a $9.7 million (R$55 million) investment, Biomas will collaborate with Bahia-based cellulose company Veracel to plant over 2 million trees in the area.
The Muçununga project will take place on land provided by Veracel that was previously used for pulp production, and it will unroll in several steps, beginning with mapping out the target restoration areas.
In the following stages, the project will engage in dialogue with local communities and relevant stakeholders before proceeding with soil preparations and tree planting.
Once the trees are planted, the Biomas team will monitor the progress and impact on forest health, gathering high-integrity, transparent information that will account towards generating carbon removal credits from the reforestation activities.
Looking ahead, during the following 40 years, Biomas aims to generate around 500,000 carbon credits from this ambitious nature-based CO2 removal project that will be offered to buyers looking for promising net-zero pathways.
Founded in 2022, Biomas has set out on a mission to restore 2 million hectares in the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon over the next 20 years. The company is backed by various established industry names, including Vale, Marfrig, Suzano, Santander Brasil, Itaú, and Rabobank.
Project Muçununga represents Biomas’ first large-scale initiative, marking a significant milestone in the company’s development.
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It will see the planting of over 70 different species native to the area of Bahia, such as Araçá, Copaíba, Guapuruvu, Ipê Amarelo, Jacaranda da Bahia, and Jatobá.
The original Atlantic forest, an ecosystem that once covered areas that are now home to two-thirds of the Brazilian population, has been reduced down to only 12 percent remaining.
With plans to restore areas of both the Atlantic forest and the Amazon, Biomas has shared, “The return of the forest will help maintain cooler temperatures and cleaner water, boosting agricultural productivity and the well-being of people, plants, and animals.“
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