Rio Botanical Garden has special program for National Environmental Awareness Day

On National Environmental Education Day, celebrated on June 3, the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden will have a special program. Starting at 9 a.m., the Environmental Education Service (SEA) will be promoting activities to raise awareness about the preservation of the juçara palm and other critically endangered Atlantic Forest species.

Some curiosities about these species and their interaction with fauna will be explored, as well as the relationship between their elements and the uses and customs of Brazilian culture. After the activities, which will take place at the SEA headquarters, located next to the Visitor Center, the group will visit the juçaras palm bed in the arboretum.

Well-known in the Atlantic Forest, the juçara palm (Euterpe edulis), which is threatened with extinction and protected by law due to predatory palm heart extraction, has fruits with high nutritional quality and a mild flavor, the pulp of which can also be used to make 'juçara açaí', or 'Atlantic Forest açaí'. In ecological terms, the juçara palm is considered a fundamental species for fauna in times of scarcity of resources in the forest, especially for larger birds such as the jacutinga (Pipile jacutinga).

The activities are free, with only an entrance fee for the arboretum. No appointment is necessary.