THE COMMODITY ISSUE
SERRA DO URUBU & MURICI, BRAZIL
PUTTING THE PIECES
BACK TOGETHER
Surrounded by a sea of cattle ranches and sugarcane plantations, a few ‘islands’ of Atlantic
Forest remain. By establishing a private reserve and working with local people to connect
forest fragments, SAVE Brasil is showing that it is possible to turn the tide on extinction.
By Alice Reisfeld
can pinpoint the
location where the
last ever Alagoas
Foliage-gleaner
was seen”, says Pedro Develey,
Director of SAVE Brasil (BirdLife
Partner). “The bird was in a
tangle of lianas, mid-story
level, close to the edge of the
forest. It was possible to see
“I
22
some plantations invading the
protected forest. That sighting in
2011 was very short, just a quick
view of this very rare bird. But I
never imagined at the time that
it would be one of last records
of the species in the wild. Now it
is on the brink of being declared
officially extinct.”
The Atlantic Forest was once
a great continuous swathe of
green, but was rapidly cleared
and most forest converted into
sugarcane plantations and cities,
leaving only patches of forest
scattered along the east coast
of South America. Just 2% of
the Atlantic Forest remains in
northeastern Brazil. These forest
islands are now final refuges
Seven-colored
Tanager Tangara
fastuosa
Photo Ciro Albano
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BIRDLIFE • JUL-SEP 2019