Agroforestry is a system of land use in which harvestable trees or shrubs are grown among or around crops or on pastureland, imitating the structural principles of a forest. Like this, agroforest as a system improves the productivity of the land, strengthens environmental resilience and ecosystem sustainability.

An additional benefit of the multifunctional agroforestry system, is the sequestration of carbon with the inclusion of perennial plants and the increased biodiversity. The perennial plants in the system store more carbon than annual vegetation, as they grow for more days of the year and increase their storage over the years. In particular, trees store carbon in their trunks, branches and roots, increasing the amount stored as they grow. The increased biodiversity stores carbon at different depths in the soil and in different parts of the ecosystem.

About the remover:

We are a young family – Robert, Dace, Leo and Nora – who in the beginning of 2020 left the city life behind to start an ecological self-experiment in the countryside of Brazil. We jumped into this adventure by buying 30 hectares of land with forests, waterfalls and grazelands, surrounded by the mountain stretches of the National Park of Três Picos, close to Nova Friburgo in Rio de Janeiro state.

Our goal is to become a reference and permaculture playground for similar minded people. We want to learn together with others and to share our experience, to produce our own food and enrich the fertility, productivity and biodiversity of the land, to learn to live in harmony and respect with nature and the community around us.

The project name sums up our true dedication to our piece of land: MAARA refers to Māra, which is Mother Earth in Latvian mythology. She is the goddess who was responsible for the birth of the land, the waters, and every living thing. The meaning of MAARA quite accurately features our intention of this project – to live in harmony with nature, to protect and preserve, and develop a balanced and healthy ‘giving and taking’ relationship with the environment.

Website and social media:

https://projetomaara.com/

Instagram page

Youtube channel

MAARA

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Available

Holding