The objective of the Project Integrating Actions in the
Mantiqueira is to create and integrate community development
initiatives in the region and to enhance results by carrying out
activities such as environmental education, reforestation of native
species, and communication. The initiative directly involves the
communities of Visconde de Mauá, Serrinha, Colina, Matutu and Campo
Redondo and was inspired by the environmental educators training
project – Junior Environmental Patrol of
Serrinha – created in 2000-2001. The NGO, Crescente Fertil, with
the support of Fundação Luterana de Diaconia (Lutheran Deaconi
Foundation) , is in charge of the project.
The Mantiqueira Mountain Range is an Environmentally Protected Area
(APA) designed to combine protection of the region’s natural resources
with social development and preservation of local culture.
Located between the three largest cities in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro,
Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte), the APA covers almost all of the
Itatiaia National Park, which was the first national park created in
Brazil in 1937.
Students between the ages of 12-16, living in one of the
beneficiary communities - Visconde de Mauá and Serrinha, in Resende,
RJ; Colina and Campo Redondo in Itamonte, MG; and Matutu, in Aiuruoca,
MG – participate in the projects. The communities were selected
based upon the existence of initiatives already in progress that have
objectives and results related to the Mantiqueira Project,
- a global proposal for the ecological development of the
region. The Local projects have in common environmental
education, the involvement of students, and the usage of community or
school spaces, as the starting points for constructing new
values and attitudes about the environment.
Each community has a partner institution that coordinates all local
activities. The network is composed of Projeto Centelha-Campo
Redondo, Centro Comunitário Rural da Colina, Associação de Educadores
da Serrinha, Escola Estadual Visconde de Mauá and the Fundação
Matutu. To actively participate in the project, simply choose a
community where you want to plant a tree, together with the help of
the youngsters involved in the project. With one click of the
mouse, a tree will be planted exactly in the location the collaborator
preffers your preferred location.
