CULTURE CURRENT-Ricardo Cardim on greening Brazil's concrete jungle

In November, Brazil will host the COP30 climate summit, and the Amazon city of Belem, which is the most biodiverse city in the world, will be the center of attention. Visitors to Sao Paulo in Brazil's business capital may be shocked by the city's treeless landscapes, and its polluted river.

Cardim is a botanist and landscaper on a mission. He wants to use native plants of the Atlantic Forest, Brazil's most endangered ecosystem. The Atlantic Forest once covered the entire city but now only occupies a fraction of its original area along the coast. Cardim has created "pocket trees," a collection of more than 12 tiny biodiverse forests he planted in public and private spaces throughout Sao Paulo. These groves help urbanites reconnect with their natural heritage, and adapt to a warming future.

Cardim, who lives in Sao Paulo discusses with us why he believes that the conversation about climate in cities should shift from abstract carbon metrics to the tangible benefits of biodiversity protection.

This conversation has been edited for clarity.

Why is Sao Paulo grey?

Sao Paulo has a remarkable biodiversity. It's an ecotone, a point where different floras meet. You could see the Araucaria Forest (savanna) and humid Atlantic Forest (with semi-deciduous trees) meeting with the Araucaria Forest.

Sao Paulo has experienced an incredible growth in the last 150 years. In 1870, Sao Paulo had 30,000 inhabitants. It is now home to 22 million people.

What are the implications of this?

Sao Paulo can be a harsh city. We hear a lot about the global climate change. But we can't do much to affect it. China and the United States are better suited to talk about this than us. We can't control what happens in the region, but we do have some choice. Heat islands are caused by the excessive drying, impermeabilization, and lack of greenery in urban areas. Heat islands are also the factory of extreme weather.

Tell me about the pocket forest project that you and your company Cardim Landscape Architecture are working on. What was the beginning?

I was visiting my uncle's small farm. Nearby, there were some trees that had been cleared to plant potatoes. The forest was coming back. One tree pressing against another. How does it return? Within a single summer, the trees would reach three meters tall.

When I founded my business, I thought "I will do what I did as a teenager at the farm" in landscaping projects. Nobody else was doing it; it was completely crazy. It was my partner who called it a "pocket-forest." In three years I restored a building with a super-dense forest.

In 2016, some activists said "Let's create a pocket-sized forest in a public place." We received donations to purchase the seedlings. We finally got a plot after a lot stress from the city.

People started to arrive after we posted the following on social media. There were about 150 people when I counted.

Someone said something beautiful: "Ricardo I have planted trees before in the city, but never a Forest. It will last centuries if you plant a tree. No one can tear down the forest that was planted by people.

You mentioned the physical benefits that come from planting native trees in urban areas. You mentioned the physical benefits of planting native trees in cities. Can you explain the cultural importance of these trees, since most people talk only about protecting the last wild places on the planet, which are far from cities?

Even scientists have said to me in my lectures, "Ricardo this cause is minor." When we're talking about the preservation of biomes that are extremely important, I asked, "Buddy who decides if the biome is preserved or not?" Do you believe that the Amazonian landowners live on their farms or not? They don't. "They live in wealthy neighborhoods in Sao Paulo."

Urban dwellers are the majority of those who elect politicians who care about the environment outside cities. If, from childhood, people have seen (native), embaubas, and jucara trees, then you can create a connection between the people and their land.

We will not be able to convince the city dwellers of our incredible biodiversity, which is wonderful and worthy of preservation.

Your book, "Remnants of The Atlantic Forest", published in 2018, tells the tale of how deforestation has destroyed a rainforest which once stretched along Brazil’s coasts. What lessons can be learned from the Atlantic Forest to help protect the Amazon, the site of the 2018 climate summit hosted by Brazil?

The Atlantic Forest is the exact same place as the Amazon. Only the technology and scale differ. In the Atlantic Forest we use axes to cut down trees. In the Amazon we use bulldozers, chainsaws and other heavy machinery. The speed is ridiculous.

Already, the Amazon is beginning to fragment. This is the beginning of its end. It's exactly what happened to the Atlantic Forest. I see the perfect parallel.

Science has shown that forests do not survive in fragments. Large expanses of forest are necessary for forests to function. Small forests are transformed into zombie forests. They lose their fauna, suffer from internal climate and environmental changes, suffer biodiversity loss and die after more than a century.

We have the right, but must do it with love and scientific knowledge. We still treat nature like an unlimited credit card.

What do you want Brazilians to understand about the Atlantic Forest

It's easy to admire other people's gardens, but it's difficult to maintain our own.

They are irreplaceable. This is very important. For the forest to last for decades or even centuries, we need minimally viable fragments.

Environmental activists claim that the threats to biodiversity are often forgotten when leaders discuss climate change and ways to reduce carbon emissions. What is the outcome of this debate in the country with the most biodiversity?

We are dealing with an imported environmental agenda. The environmental agenda imported from wealthy, temperate countries ends up overshadowing important national issues.

We talk a great deal about renewable energy in Brazil, but water is our primary energy source. Water is under the jurisdiction of biodiversity. Our agriculture is the engine of our economy, and it is sustained by biodiversity.

It is important to remember that the trees are a connection between the watertable and the -- they receive water on both sides and send it directly to the watertable. This is why you see a mist over forests.

This imported agenda continues to bring up topics such as glaciers, ocean trash, plastics, and carbon -- things that the general public doesn't know.

Carbon is not the most important issue in cities. Nobody talks about the urban landscape, or how to restore cities. Nine out of ten Brazilians live in cities that are barren and chaotic.

We're now seeing money invested in companies that reforest and sell carbon credits. This includes the Atlantic Forest. Do you believe it will bring about a change?

As someone who cares deeply about our forests I would sleep better if the same amount of money and value that is placed on carbon was directed towards the management and preservation forest remnants.

We must remove invasive plants (and) replant species that our grandfathers cut down because the forest is imploding.

We need a scientific, technical mapping of the most endangered fragments. This carbon discussion makes me think that the people leading it are not experienced in forests. They haven't seen ticks, they don't live in cold countries. We just repeat it like parrots. (Editing by Yasmeen serhan and Aurora Ellis, Photo editing by Simon Newman).

(source: Reuters)