2023-07-10 13:30:00
Hammock are people and traditional knowledge making forest with native and traditional seeds, multiplying biodiversity and knowledge|Are Yudja/Xingu+ Network
At the heart of Brazilian biomes, there are people who, ancestrally, maintain ways of life that coexist with forests, rivers and cultures through the use, management and preservation of natural resources.
Among them, the seeds.
From the exchange of knowledge and experiences between the peoples of the territories that keep seeds, the Redário was born, an articulation between networks and groups of collectors, which became a powerful alternative for ecological restoration in Brazil.
Watch the video:
The Redário brings together 22 networks and groups of seed collectors from all over Brazil and is aimed at providing the necessary support for the production of native seeds, boosting the market and making the best seeds available for the recovery of each ecosystem.
The union results in a large-scale restoration chain, guided by fair trade, broad genetic base and traceability.
Providing the exchange of knowledge and experiences between networks of collectors is a valuable tool in the Redário. “We are creating this base of the restoration chain with seeds, with high biodiversity and high genetic variety, a social value built on fair and collaborative relationships”, explains Edu Malta, articulator of the Redário.
Press play and listen to Copiô, Relative Especial!
Redário is a combination of several organizations from all over Brazil that believe in and sow the potential of seeds|Webert da Cruz/Redário/ISA
In this sense, Redário supports the development of regional community organizations focused on the native seed market, based on training, technical, managerial, logistical, communicational, commercial and legal support. Currently, most linked seed networks are community-based – indigenous, quilombola, geraizeiros, traditional communities and small farmers.
The Redário was founded based on the successful experience of the Associação Rede de Sementes do Xingu (ARSX), which for 15 years has been working in the restoration of forests and cerrados in the Xingu Basin and has already helped to recover 8 thousand hectares of degraded area, and values the traditional knowledge of the communities involved.
Therefore, it sows, in addition to environmental results and financial profits, the connections of belonging for common well-being.
watch the film Forest Makers and get closer to the stories, seeds and people who proved that the living forest is good for everyone.
“We are creating this base of the restoration chain with seeds, with high biodiversity and high genetic variety, a social value built in fair and collaborative relationships”, explains Edu Malta, articulator of Redário|Webert da Cruz Elias/Redário/ISA
“The origin of the seed is not in packages available in supermarkets but is the result of true encounters and powerful connections. That’s why the Xingu Seed Network has won international recognition and awards for its nature-based solutions”, explains Rodrigo Junqueira, executive secretary of the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), one of the partner organizations that gave birth to the initiative.
“This approach considers human nature and life as a whole. That is what is being transferred as a basis for the Redary”.
With around 1,200 people directly involved in seed collection, approximately 60% of them women, in 2021 alone, the initiative generated income for more than a thousand families in 50 Brazilian communities. In 2022, Redário sold more than 16 tons of seeds of 170 native species destined for 47 restoration projects through muvuca in about 600 hectares.
Discover the Multiethnic Village:
Did you know that there is a replica of an indigenous village close to Brasilia? Discover #AldeiaMultiétnica, which is located in the heart of #ChapadaDosVeadeiros and in a preservation area of #Cerrado. #MeioAmbiente #Viagem #PovosTradicionais #WhereFicar #Redário #Waterfalls #Forest #Brasília
Sowing future ancestors
In addition to the Redário, there is the sister initiative “Caminhos da Semente”, which has as its main objective the dissemination of direct sowing and muvuca for restoration in Brazil. Among the crucial points of this alliance to maximize large-scale ecological restoration is the urgent need to look for more effective socio-environmental solutions to recover the waters, the springs.
For the young Fabrícia Santarém, vice-president of the Geraizeiros Collector Network, in Minas Gerais, the recovery of water was what motivated her community to work with the restoration and collection of native seeds.
Fabrícia Santarém, vice-president of the Geraizeiros Collectors Network. Young people join older collectors to learn to live with the forest, creating bonds of belonging with their territories|Ester Cruz/Redário/ISA
“Inside the Conservation Unit, we think it’s important to recover our own areas and also always dealing with the water issue, right? Because we started this collection work, always thinking about recovering the waters in our region, which were very compromised. We face major droughts, being supplied by water truck.”
The Geraizeiros seed network operates in five municipalities in the Alto Rio Pardo territory, where 30 collectors, who live in eight communities, work with approximately 40 native transitional species between the Cerrado and the Atlantic Forest.
“I learned a lot from these men and women collectors, especially the older ones. I learned to collect seeds from them, I learned to benefit from them. So, there is always this exchange and this gratitude from them too”, he adds.
Seed is autonomy
The seed symbolizes true encounters and connections, which recognize the sovereignty and fullness of nature.
Crowd of people! Participants of the II Redário Meeting, in Alto Paraíso de Goiás, got together to exchange affection and knowledge|Webert da Cruz Elias/Redário/ISA
This understanding is shared by several seed collectors, such as Lucimar Soares da Mota from Rede de Sementes do Vale do Ribeira, São Paulo, and Alfredo Santana Ferreira from Coopajé Sementes, Southern Bahia, who highlight the importance of collecting seeds as a fundamental part of of their culture and the preservation of their communities.
They find in the muvuca – direct sowing technique – a way to forest autonomy and income.
Read the testimonials:
Lucimar Soares da Mota
“I’m from Quilombo André Lopes, located in the municipality of Eldorado. For my people, collecting seeds is essential and part of our culture. For example, to preserve the trees around my house, I plant their seeds, but we didn’t have the technique to work the seeds for sale. Now, with the Valley Seeds Network, this activity supplements my income. There are people in my quilombo who manage to live on the income from the seeds.”
Seeds harvested by the quilombola Lucimar da Mota, from Ribeira Valley Seed Network|Webert da Cruz/Redario/ISA
Alfredo Santana Ferreira
“Our work ranges from collecting to preparing seedlings and restoring areas. We constantly seek more knowledge in this area. For me, the seed is like more of our families that are growing. With Redário, more seeds are being planted and germinated, more of us are growing. And it’s a way to strengthen our community.”
Coming from the south of Bahia, Pataxó Alfredo Ferreira showed the seeds of the ancestral future|Webert da Cruz/Redário/ISAII Meeting of the Redário: entangling public policies
In 2023, the expectation is to add even more knowledge to enhance the transformative reach of native seeds. To this end, between May 30th and June 4th, representatives of networks of collectors, research institutions, state and federal agencies, the third sector and financiers gathered at the II Meeting of the Redário, at Aldeia Multiétnica, in Alto Paraíso de Goiás.
During the event, around 160 people from all regions of the country and abroad addressed topics related to the governance of this collective and shared technical knowledge. Also, the challenges and strategic solutions that guide the course of commercialization of native seeds network and restoration in Brazil were discussed.
Among other workshops, collectors received communication guidelines. Are Yudja, popular communicator from Xingu+ Networkoffered a photo and video workshop during the II Meeting|Ester Cruz/Redário/ISA
Faced with the possibility of rebuilding public policies aimed at restoration, from the new Government, public bodies and entities visited the meeting. The expectation is that the muvuca technology will be even more widespread and who knows how to support the goal of the National Plan for the Recovery of Native Vegetation (Planaveg), which intends to restore 12 million hectares of degraded forest in Brazil by 2030.
“My role here is to think about the creation of a public policy to encompass the muvuca. But, indirectly, we have influenced public notices so that seeds are collected and that the restoration work is done together with local communities. We have influenced and focused on public policies that are being established so that they think about it [na semeadura direta]. We have been working together with the Ministry of Agriculture to help develop, improve and consider what we are discussing here”, explains Alexandre Bonesso Sampaio, from ICMbio’s National Center for Biodiversity Assessment and Research and Conservation of the Cerrado.
Researchers from different institutions, such as Alexandre Sampaio, also participated in the meeting and debates on the future of the Network|Ester Cruz/Redário/ISA
For Cintia Oliveira Silva, president of Cerrado em Pé, a partner association linked to Redário, which currently has the participation of 240 families, including kalunga, settlers and urban collectors from the Cerrado, the meeting provides an exchange of knowledge to bring financial benefits to families , while showing the importance of caring for biomes.
“By presenting this proposal to the communities, the importance of not deforesting but preserving is shown. We always say: It’s not just about seeds, but about everything that surrounds it – a different way of doing things and living”, he concludes.
Redário team during the initiative’s 2nd Meeting, which took place in Aldeia Multiétnica, Alto Paraíso de Goiás|Webert da Cruz Elias/Redário/ISA
See below for more images from the meeting, visit the website redario.org.br and follow him on Instagram @redarioderedesdesementes
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