A bright blue river snakes its way through towering trees, the rainforest alive with sounds of tropical birds. Mist shrouds a pine-covered mountaintop, an expanse of deep green surrounding it on all sides. Forests around the world are admired for their beauty and tranquility, but forests are also essential to our lives and livelihoods. In fact, five billion people rely on them for food, medicine, and income. Planting trees to restore some of the world’s most critical forests, like the Amazon, has far-reaching—and even surprising!—benefits for communities and the ecosystems they need to survive.
Since 2020, we have proudly partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant 1.3 million trees to-date across 1,200 hectares in Brazil, with efforts underway to surpass two million next year. And this isn’t just any ordinary tree planting: our efforts prioritize Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPs & LCs) as key partners, honoring their crucial, longstanding role as forest guardians with traditional knowledge. We work directly with 22 Indigenous peoples across the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest regions, in addition to family farmers, local cooperatives, and NGOs, to plant diverse mixes of native seeds and seedlings and restore Brazil’s critical ecosystems. These efforts have resulted in more than seven tons of planted seeds, 500,000 planted seedlings, and over 250 hectares of direct sowing in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforests.
In celebration of International Forest Day on March 21st, we are reflecting on some of the unique benefits of this partnership and our non-traditional approach to tree planting. Here are seven important benefits of agroforestry you might not have known about:
1. Increased food security
Instead of a plantation-style approach, our replanting efforts with the Arbor Day Foundation and IPs & LCs focus on agroforestry, which involves replanting a diverse mix of native trees and plants and incorporating them into agricultural systems. Forests naturally provide essential food sources like fruits, seeds, nuts, and vegetables. Replanting with biodiversity in mind increases the availability of this food for communities and families living on the land.
2. Recognition of traditional knowledge and practices
An especially promising technique we use with our partners is called muvuca, which is a traditional replanting method that involves the direct seeding of native plant mixes. The seed mix includes a combination of fast-growing species, like leguminous species such as beans, as well as shrub and tree species that emerge in the medium and long term as part of a mature forest.
Muvuca also mimics and restores the way landscapes naturally grow. Soils contain a “seed bank” that remains dormant until conditions are right. Using muvuca helps to restore this seed bank and support forest restoration in the long term.
Muvuca is also more efficient than relying only on seedlings. Seedlings take much longer to individually plant and care for, while with muvuca, seeds can quickly be scattered over large areas of land either by hand or with machinery. As we work with the Arbor Day Foundation and partners on the ground to replant 1,200 hectares, muvuca can help us reach this goal faster.
3. Improved water quality and quantity
Planting more trees gives surrounding communities access to cleaner water. As water flows through the soil, plant roots and other microbes in the soil filter out pollutants. When forests are clearcut, the soil becomes unhealthy and is unable to complete this natural service. By planting trees, we are also restoring soil health and ensuring local communities have clean water to drink and grow food.
Ecological restoration also enhances soil structure and increases its capacity to retain and infiltrate rainwater. This process reduces surface runoff and erosion, allowing more water to recharge groundwater aquifers and feed natural springs. Over time, this can help restore degraded watersheds, contributing to the recovery of stream flows and increasing the availability of water for local communities.
4. Greater biodiversity
Agroforestry techniques add important biodiversity back into the forest, both by physically planting a wide variety of trees, but also by creating habitat for native species. Biodiverse landscapes (those with a greater variety of plants, animals, insects, and microbes) are better equipped to withstand climate extremes like droughts and floods. They also support food security; strengthen the economy by providing raw materials for products like wood and paper, food, medicines, lotions and soaps, and clothing; and increase availability of medicines essential for human health—40 percent of which come from nature.
5. Income for IPs & LCs and other communities
In addition to harvesting forest products from replanting to use themselves—either for food, medicine, or artisanal products—what is planted through agroforestry systems can also provide new economic opportunities. We plant high-value forest products like açaí, Brazil nuts, and cacao that fetch higher prices in regional and global markets, providing an important source of sustainable income.
Not only that, but we pay communities for the seeds and seedlings they produce and collect from their lands. This provides another forest-friendly livelihood opportunity and has often resulted in literal “seed money” for communities to launch more formal seed collection businesses. This is also where the benefits circle back around: increasing local capacity for seed collection and plant nurseries helps create a wider network of seed and seedling suppliers for replanting at an even larger scale.
6. Self-sustaining, resilient communities
With increased food security and sustainable economic opportunities, communities become well positioned to sustain themselves, their lands, and their families in the long-term, as well as contributing to economic networks on a broader scale. Part of our strategy with the Arbor Day Foundation is to strengthen the capacity of Indigenous peoples, local and afro descendent communities, and family farmers to develop strong, forest-based initiatives of their choosing that align with their cultures and worldviews. In addition to purchasing seeds from communities, we also work with them on trainings, such as satellite monitoring or entrepreneurial skills, and other forms of knowledge sharing.
When they don’t have to worry about basic needs, communities can also put more time and energy into monitoring their territories. Increased monitoring means communities stand a better chance at eliminating threats to their territories such as illegal logging. They can also conduct more frequent assessments of ecosystem health and biodiversity.
7. More carbon is absorbed, stored, and converted into oxygen
Last, but certainly not least, tree planting helps to restore the lungs of our planet. Over half of all carbon stored around the globe is in forests. Not only is this good for the climate, but trees convert carbon dioxide into the oxygen we need to breathe. Some even clean toxins from the air. In fact, a single tree can give four people enough oxygen for an entire day—thank a tree today!
While this project is part of our broader commitment to restoring Brazil’s critical ecosystems, the cascading impact planting trees can have on economic resilience, biodiversity, food security, and traditional knowledge is significant. This not only drives systemic change by promoting sustainable value chains, but it ensures that conservation and economic growth go hand-in-hand. As a result, our work goes beyond just planting trees. It serves as a model for how large-scale reforestation can be both environmentally and socially transformative.
Beto Borges is the Director of Forest Trends’ Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative. Ernesto Sanchez Andrade is the Project Development Manager, International at the Arbor Day Foundation.
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