The projects of SAVE-Brasil(SAVE) in the Mata Atlantica seemed promising to us, especially as partners from our Madagascar projects had recommended this organization. Thanks to the results of her research, Silke Lichtenberg was able to identify 22 tree species within the SAVE project areas that are relevant for the construction of musical instruments. These include pernambuco for bows, cedro for guitars, several species of rosewood, among others for flutes and guitars and various subspecies of ipé as alternative material for bows. Dalbergia nigra rosewood was particularly popular for guitars in the past (CITES App. I).
Now it was only a small step to decide to bring our interests together in a joint project and thus pool our energies and resources. In exchange with SAVE, we identified those tree species from which seeds and/or seedlings are available.
These are pernambuco, cedro, jatobá and three different species of ipé. Whether seeds of dalbergia nigra could be found was initially unlikely. These are now being planted in the project areas together with other native tree species in the project areas, their planting being documented. A longer-term goal is to plant all the species native to the region, which are also used in the making of musical instruments.
There are 2 sub-projects with different approaches:
- Around the Murici nature reserve, the aim is to persuade landowners in neighboring areas to pool the legally prescribed 20% protected forest of their land to create a larger contiguous protected area.
- In the Sierra do Urubu, a low mountain region, SAVE itself was able to acquire around 360 ha of land on which a protected forest can be created.

Studies have shown that 80 percent of the remaining forest area in the atlantic rainforest consists of patches of less than 0.5 square kilometers, which are on average 1.4 kilometers apart. This makes it extremely difficult for animals to migrate between the remaining areas, but it is also virtually impossible for the tree flowers to be pollinated and their seeds to spread beyond these small intact forest areas. The two project areas are around 100 km apart. The aim of SAVE is to reconnect these formerly contiguous forest areas through corridors. As the fragmentation and destruction of the forest areas is already so far advanced and many of the endangered tree species are very rare, a major challenge is to procure the necessary seeds of the selected tree species and plants. SAVE has put together a seed collection team for this task, which searches for seeds and seedlings throughout the region.

When thinking about a suitable name for the project, we agreed that it should express the fact that it is about restoring a Brazilian environmental and cultural treasure that local people can identify with. So we were very happy with SAVE’s suggestion to give the project the name of a typical bird species in the Atlantic rainforest: Araponga. This name means sonorous/sounding bird in the Tupi language. Arapongas can emit deafening cries, on average 116 Db, hopefully an unmistakable cry for help for their species and their endangered ecosystem.
In a first interim report in december, SAVE Brasil informed us about the progress and current status of the project plans.
Part of the project consists of identifying suitable areas and convincing their owners of the renaturation project. The first suitable plot of land was found in spring. It is an area of just under 5 ha in Sítio Pó de Estrelas in the Lagoa dos Gatos region. This former forest area was used as grazing land for cattle until a few weeks before the start of the project. In order to protect the forest, which hopefully will soon grow back, it was necessary to fence off the project area, as the adjacent areas are still being grazed.

In May, 404 seedlings of 18 tree species were planted on a partial area of 1.64 hectares, 3 of which are used in musical instrument making (Dalbergia Nigra/Rio-Palisander, Handroanthus Chrysotrichus/Ipé and Hymenaea Courbaril/Jatobá).
A mechanized planting technique was used on a further 2.87 hectares of land, in which a mixture of different tree seeds were placed in the soil. Starting in July, 326.5 kg of seeds from 28 different species were sown, including 2 species with relevance for musical instrument making (dalbergia nigra and Ipé). No other were available at this time. Three types of plants were added to the indigenous varieties to enrich the soil with nutrients and thus fertilize it Fortunately, the area soon showed signs of sprouting plants and isolated groups of trees, confirming the potential for renaturation using this planting technique. The aim of this technique is to quickly cover the soil with vegetation in order to prevent erosion, drying out or colonization by invasive grass species. naturally. This planting technique is called “muvuca” in Portuguese.

The planned seed collection group had not yet been put together at that time, so the seeds were acquired from another local group. Finding suitable seeds of endemic species is still a major challenge.
Another part of the project consists of maintenance missions on areas where SAVE had already started renaturation between 2020 and 2023. This involves adding seedlings of tree species to promote near-natural forestation. In Sítio Água Branca work began in 2022. Here 110 seedlings of native trees, including pernambuco and two ipé species, were planted during a maintenance mission in August 2024.
In the SAVE-owned area RPPN Pedra D’Antas in Lagoa dos Gatos, a total of 1765 seedlings of 21 endemic species, including ipé, dalbergia nigra and jatobá, were planted during a similar maintenance mission.
Monitoring missions took place in both areas in November recording the number of bird species observed. The development and quality of the forest can be assessed based on the number and species of birds observed. In Água Branca, 60% of the birds observed were forest and semi-forest species, which indicates that the reforestation is progressing well. In Pedra D’Antas, on the other hand, field birds still predominate. Here, renaturation is clearly slowed down by invasive grass species, which shows that maintenance missions still need to be carried out for some time.
Such a bird survey will be carried out in Sítio Pó de Estrelas for the first time this year.

With the financial participation of Orchester des Wandels Deutschland e.V., it was possible to set up the Araponga project on twice the scale that would have been possible on our own. Together we are interested in helping to ensure the continued existence of the forests and their biodiversity, with as much diversity as possible. Even if the duration of this project is limited to 2 years for the time being, everyone involved is willing to extend the project if it is successful.
Further details on this new project can be found on our homepage at https://www.eben-holz.org/en/brasilien/
Here is a link to the homepage of SAVE-Brasil, although unfortunately only in Brazilian, you can still see impressive pictures of the beautiful birds of this region. https://www.savebrasil.org.br/mata-atlantica-do-nordeste/
all rights to the photos and graphics: SAVE Brasil