Botanical Garden holds Atlantic Forest Biome Week

Reduced to only 12.4% of its original forest cover, the Atlantic Forest is still one of the richest biomes in plant species diversity on the planet, many of them threatened.

Almost all of these species (95%) occur in Brazil, and the rest in Argentina and Paraguay. The biome covers approximately 15% of the Brazilian territory, extending over 17 states (from Ceará to Rio Grande do Sul). Most of the Brazilian population (72%) lives in the Atlantic Forest area. Currently there are approximately 15,600 species - about 60% are endemic - of plants distributed in the various types of vegetation (refuges, forests, restingas and mangroves) in the biome.

In order to raise public awareness about the need to preserve the biome, the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden promotes, from next Sunday, May 28, until June 3, the Atlantic Forest Week. The program includes guided trails, debates, educational workshops, recreational and cultural activities.

In addition, at the souvenir store of the Associação de Amigos do Jardim Botânico, the public will find products with artwork made especially for the Week by artist Marcia Quintela.

Check out the schedule below:

Sunday (28/5)

* Puppet Theater with Papa Vento Group
Time: 10am
Place: playground
The Papa Vento group will present the story "Our forest", aimed at children aged 3 to 7 years, about caring for nature. A hunter arrives in a beautiful and peaceful forest where the animals live in total harmony with nature. The hunter says he is going to destroy the forest and trap the animals to take them to the city. The animals are frightened and don't know what to do. They ask the children for help. All together, united, can they defeat the terrible hunter and protect the forest?

* Playful activities
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Place: playground
Crayon coloring activities with elements of Atlantic Forest fauna and flora, such as the toucan, redwoods and the golden lion tamarin, among others.


Monday (5/29), Tuesday (5/30), Thursday (6/1) and Friday (6/2)

Educational activities "Treasure Hunting in the Path of the Atlantic Forest", with the staff of the Environmental Education Service (SEA) of the Botanical Garden.
Time: from 9am to 11am and from 2pm to 4pm.
With the objective of divulging, in a playful way, to children from 4 to 10 years old, the importance of preservation and conservation of the biome and its diversity, the educators will promote games and activities in the Atlantic Forest Path of the Botanical Garden. The activities start at 9am on the lawn next to the SEA headquarters, in the Cultural Corridor. Next, at 10am, there will be an Atlantic Forest treasure hunt. In the afternoon, the program will be held only at the SEA headquarters.


Monday (29/5)

Lectures: The Atlantic Forest in RJ and the Thismiaceae family.
Location: Auditorium of the Associação de Amigos do Jardim Botânico (AAJB) - Access Rua Jardim Botânico, 1008
The lectures will take the public through the history of the Atlantic Forest in Rio de Janeiro and the incredible plants of the Thismiaceae family, which live hidden in the forest floor.

2pm: "Green Memory: the history of the Atlantic Forest in Rio de Janeiro", with Ramon Guedes de Oliveira, PhD student at the National School of Tropical Botany of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden (ENBT/JBRJ)

3pm: "Discovering the secrets of the Thismiaceae family: the fascinating life of these plants in the Atlantic Forest", with Diego Ferreira da Silva, doctoral student at ENBT/JBRJ

Tuesday (30/5)

Lecture: "The Atlantic Forest and the Anthropocene", with Pablo Pena Rodrigues, researcher from JBRJ
Time: 2 pm
Place: AAJB Auditorium - Access Rua Jardim Botânico, 1008
The Atlantic Forest is home to thousands of life forms, and, at the beginning of the Anthropocene, it has been almost extinguished by human action, with only a little more than 10% remaining. Even so, several species of animals and plants still survive in its forest remnants. In the lecture, the public will get to know a little about this rich biodiversity and the process it goes through. "Besides extinction, we are also promoting a transformation of the Atlantic Forest, which can even be `positive`, if we can stop the destruction and encourage the expansion of these forests", says the researcher.


Thursday (1/6)

* Trail of the Atlantic Forest, guided by Botanical Garden researcher Claudio Nicoletti
Schedule: 10:00 a.m.
Meeting point: Visitors Center
Place: Arboretum
The guided tour along the Trail of the Atlantic Forest will present 27 species of plants of the biome found in the arboretum of the Botanical Garden, including sapucaia, pau-brasil, pau-ferro, jequitibá-rosa and ipê-roxo.

* In search of the fauna of the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro
Schedule: 2:00pm
Meeting point: Visitors Center
Place: Caminho da Mata Atlântica
The team of the Fauna Center of the Botanical Garden will show how to find and identify the animals that live in the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro, looking for their traces and signs, as a biologist does.

* Didactic workshop "Mata Atlântica through the senses
Times: from 9am to 11am and from 2pm to 4pm
Location: Socio-environmental Responsibility Center (CRS).
The workshop will explore, through the senses, elements of the flora, fauna, native peoples and future of the Atlantic Forest

* "Explorers Workshop
Hours: from 9am to 11am and from 2pm to 4pm
Place: Socio-environmental Responsibility Center (CRS)
The workshop aims at valuing the sustainable use of nature and the Atlantic Forest Biome through an exhibition, games and bio-art, with the making of a seed necklace and a bio-puppet, based on dry leaves and a necklace of Syagrus romanzoffiana (Cham.) Glassman. There will be a presentation of the most common animal and plant species in the biome, with emphasis on balanced management between man and nature. The workshop will be guided by the students of the training course for environmental agents with emphasis on botanical management.

 
Friday (2/6)

Roundtable discussion: Atlantic Forest and Guanabara Bay: between stories and challenges
Time: 2 pm
Location: ENBT auditorium - Rua Pacheco Leão, 2040, Horto

- Lecture: "Cleaning up Guanabara Bay, three decades later
Speaker: Emmanuel Alencar, journalist, master in environmental engineering (Uerj) and author of the book "Guanabara Bay - neglect and resistance".

Three decades ago, Leonel Brizola, then governor of Rio de Janeiro, closed a financing deal in Washington with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to make a large investment to improve the environment of Guanabara Bay. Signed in 1994, with construction works started in the following year, the Guanabara Bay Clean-up Program (PDBG) raises, until today, questions: where did it fail? Was anything good done? How does Guanabara reach the 21st century?

- Lecture: "Voices from the forest: the Atlantic Forest on Babylon Hill
Speaker: Lise Sedrez, PhD in Latin American History from Stanford University, associate professor at the Institute of History at UFRJ. She is a post-doctoral fellow at the Rachel Carson Center, Germany, and at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. She researches urban environmental history, socio-environmental disasters, environmental governance, and, in particular, Guanabara Bay.

The reforestation collective effort initiated in 1995 in Morro da Babilônia, Leme, brought to light the relationships between the favela residents and their biophysical environment. Based on archival research and oral history, we uncovered the multiple relationships between human and non-human residents, between memories of quilombos and reforestation projects, and their transformations over the last 30 years.

- Lecture: "Protagonism of local populations in protected areas of the Atlantic Forest: experiences and inspirations of fishermen in the Guapimirim APA (RJ) and of the Pataxó people in the PARNA Descobrimento (BA)"
Speaker: Breno Herrera da Silva Coelho, environmental analyst at Chico Mendes Institute, PhD in Psychosociology and Social Ecology (UFRJ), collaborating professor in the post-graduate programs Biodiversity in Protected Areas (ENBT/JBRJ), Territorial Development (Uerj) and Ecotourism and Conservation (UNIRIO).

How do local actors, representatives of traditional peoples and communities contribute directly to the conservation and sustainable use of protected areas in the Atlantic Forest? Two cases will be presented: the work of artisanal fishermen in the defense and monitoring of the mangroves of Guanabara Bay (Guapimirim APA) and the pioneering work of the Descobrimento PARNA in acting under dual protection - environmental and indigenous - in the reconciliation of rights with the indigenous land Comexatibá, inhabited and protected by the Pataxó people.

- Lecture: "Ecosystems of Guanabara Bay: from ecological diversity to management challenges".
Speaker: Ricardo Voivodic, geographer, master in Geography and Territorial Management from UFRJ, INEA employee, having served as head of the Coastal Management Service for six years. Currently, he is the head of Serra da Tiririca State Park, in Niterói.

In the presentation, the speaker will address the diversity of ecosystems that make up the Guanabara Bay watershed, presenting ecological aspects of the transition of these biomes, their interface with urban and industrial occupation and management difficulties, as well as the environmental impacts resulting from this occupation. It will also deal with the numerous mechanisms for territory management and its interface with the management by ecosystems, including conservation units, zoning and, especially, the councils and collegiate governance bodies, such as the Guanabara Bay Hydrographic Basin Committee, its subcommittees and technical chambers.

Moderator: Jorge Luiz do Nascimento, Master in Zoology at the National Museum/UFRJ and environmental analyst at ICMBio . Currently, he coordinates the Thematic Area of Knowledge Management, Monitoring and Biodiversity Conservation of the Serra dos Órgãos National Park / ICMBio Teresópolis. Develops and supports projects and actions focused on socio-environmental management in protected areas, mainly in the Atlantic Forest Mosaic of Central Fluminense. Guest Professor of the Postgraduate Program in Territorial Development (DTur/IGeog/Uerj) and collaborator of the Professional Postgraduate Program Biodiversity in Protected Areas (ENBT/JBRJ).

Saturday (3/6)

* Educational workshops for children from 3 to 7 years old
Schedule: 9am
Location: EcoVilla Ri Happy
The activities include storytelling, collage and coloring drawings with elements of fauna and flora of the Atlantic Forest.

* Trail of the Atlantic Forest, with the Visitor Center's team
Schedule: 10:00am
Meeting point: Visitor Center

 
All activities are free of charge. There is only an entrance fee to the arboretum.

Entrance fees to the arboretum: R$ 73,00
Visitors living in the Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro (75% discount) R$ 18,00
Visitors residing in Brazil (60% discount) R$ 29,00
Visitors from Mercosul (25% discount): R$ 55,00 R$ 55,00
Children up to 5 years old do not pay.

Payment at the box office only in cash.