How a Seed Mix Can Help Save Native Forests
In Brazil, seed collectors are helping restore vegetation and combat climate change while earning a living.
Cattle on pastures cultivated in the rainforest next to the Xingu River in Sao Felix do Xingu, Brazil. The first muvuca project started in 2006 in the basin of the Xingu River.
Photographer: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty ImagesMuvuca, in Brazilian Portuguese, means a “chaotic mix.” In agriculture, it’s a method to restore the forest around headwaters of rivers and streams by planting a mix of seeds from dozens of native species, to copy the variety of nature.
It promotes the growth of native vegetation — expanding an area’s ability to capture carbon — and also prepares these new forests for climate change, because the mix includes seeds from areas that are already adapted to a hotter world.