Pablo Hoffmann wins Whitley Award
Rooting for the future: the Brazilian conservationist nurturing wild plant diversity
Pablo Hoffmann has won a Whitley Award worth £40,000 from UK charity the Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN). He is restoring wild plant diversity in Brazil which will sequester 40 times more carbon than monoculture plantations.
"Any ecosystem out of balance is a long-term global danger. New viruses, lack of food, lack of rain, chains of extinction… We are completely connected; the consequences of the destruction of forests in Brazil reach the UK with ease."
Less than 1% of southern Brazil's Araucaria Forest remains. While deforestation rampages, reforestation efforts have lacked the diversity of plants essential for a functional ecosystem that can support wildlife and adapt to climate change. Hoffmann is creating the most diverse Araucaria plant nursery in the world, containing over 80% of known tree species from the region including the charismatic 'candelabra' tree (pictured below).
With his Whitley Award he will map wild tree populations and collect seeds from mother trees across 40 sites, then produce over 60,000 seedlings for reintroduction to 20 areas as a nature-based solution to the climate and biodiversity crises.
The Araucaria Forest covers three states in southern Brazil. But the forest is seen as a source of economic gain. Today, just 60,000ha of advanced secondary forests remain in small fragments, scattered among cattle farms, monoculture plantations and continual urban expansion.
"With each extinct species we lose a little bit about the natural history of the origin of life, as well as important connections in ecological chains. We work with endangered species, some with very small populations, and are probably one of the few chances these species have to survive."
Currently, tree nurseries typically produce a limited selection of species, with almost none that are rare or threatened, and sites left for natural regeneration lack a diversity of plants. Hoffmann and his team at NGO, Sociedade Chauá, are changing this from the ground up, having created a nursery with more than 215 species including 80 rare plants, alongside efforts to reconnect people with the forest.
"Our nursery covers more than 80% of the known tree species in the Araucaria Forest and, for some, we were able to find new populations, more than doubling the number of individuals known in nature. We also have crucial information about how to grow or plant them back to the forest."
Hoffmann's Whitley Award-winning work is a nature-based solution to the interlinked climate and biodiversity crises, recognising that holistic action is needed to address runaway wildlife decline, landscape destruction and global warming. Native forest restoration will help all species mitigate, adapt to, and remain resilient in the face of environmental emergencies.
Danni Parks, WFN Director, said: "We are thrilled to recognise Pablo with a Whitley Award in support of his pioneering work with plants in Brazil, against a challenging political backdrop. Diverse ecosystems are more resilient to change and better able to adapt. Pablo's work offers an effective nature-based solution to help address the climate and biodiversity crises, hand-in-hand with local people."
Images © Sociedade Chauá
Emmanuel Amoah wins Whitley Award
Dedy Yansyah wins Whitley Award