Sustainable Value Chains in Northeast Brazil

The Atlantic Forest

The Atlantic Forest is one of Brazil's most threatened biomes because of the intense deforestation it has suffered over time. At the same time, it is home to extremely high biodiversity and many endemic species, calling for conservation and restoration efforts, especially the creation of ecological corridors and the promotion of resilient livelihoods. Once stretching from southern to northeastern Brazil, the Atlantic Forest has been reduced to 8 to 11% of its original extent. We are also running a project in the Atlantic Forest of São Paulo state. Learn about it here.

The project focused on the region between Serra do Urubu, Pernambuco, and Murici, Alagoas

In 2021, PRETATERRA worked on the project "Conservation of the Atlantic Forest in Northeast Brazil – Murici/Serra do Urubu Landscape" as a partner of WWF-Brasil and SAVE Brasil, mapping value chains, planning and implementing agroforestry systems, building entrepreneurship networks and drawing up business plans to promote ecosystem services.

The Murici/Serra do Urubu landscape covers 18 municipalities, some of the poorest in the states of Alagoas and Pernambuco; of its 220,000 inhabitants, 60,000 live in rural areas. Although only 10% of the territory is under some form of protection, it has high fauna and flora biodiversity, including several threatened and endemic bird species mapped by the SAVE Brasil team.

Communities' relationship with the environment can be considered distant: about 40% of residents of settlements around Murici (according to the Murici Ecological Station Management Plan) see the forest as useful only for "collecting dry wood, medicines and fruit". The fruit value chain adds little value in relation to the forest. The main agricultural activity is sugarcane monoculture, even though the large mills have declined over recent decades. Still, there is smaller-scale biodiversity in rural settlements, where residents grow some fruit trees such as banana, orange, pineapple and acerola.

Rural tourism as a promising value chain

After mapping stakeholders, conducting interviews using traditional knowledge acquisition tools (learn more here) and research, several important value chains were identified for the region, four of which were selected as priorities for promoting sustainable businesses.

One value chain with significant potential that is still underdeveloped in the region is rural tourism. Natural resources such as waterfalls, trails and forest fragments are destinations waiting to be explored, and they will encourage the spread of the traditional knowledge inherited from the people of the Northeast.

Building an entrepreneurship network can lead to new routes for different audiences, such as cyclists, birdwatchers, rural life immersion and adventure tourism. The idea is also that this initiative will reconnect residents and visitors with the forest, increase ecological resilience through conservation and, as a result, create a new source of income for the region. It requires joint action with the public sector, which already has specific rural tourism programs in these states, historically neglected compared to beach tourism.

Besides requiring little investment from farmers, rural tourism also opens opportunities for related services, such as trail and birdwatching guides, storytelling, meals, fresh or processed food like breads and sweets, and even handicrafts. All of this encourages the care and sustainable use of the surrounding natural resources.