OREANDA-NEWS. About a thousand students from public schools inItaguai and Queimados, and from the SESI and SENAI Units in Rio de Janeiro, participated in the fifth stage of the Cultivar reforestation project, sponsored by the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Firjan) in partnership with MMX, the EBX Group mining company. On Wednesday 17th, the students took part in a maintenance program for the more than 100 thousand native Atlantic Forest seedlings planted on the banks of the Rio Guandu in the municipalities of Queimados and Seropedica.

Students from the Elmo Baptista Coelho Municipal School, on the Ilha da Madeira, in Itaguai, were the first to reach the planted area. The school principal, Tereza de Fatima Machado, says that the students were curious to see how seedlings planted last year had developed; last year they also took part in a Cultivar planting program. For her, the integration with the school is critical to the environmental education of the children. "We already participate in other planting programs and want to take part in the next ones as well. MMX and FIRJAN could simply come here and do the planting, but instead they invite students to get involved in the process. This way they will place more value on it in the future," she says.

MMX was the first private company to participate in the Cultivar project. Since 2011, the project has been attempting to recuperate the riparian forests of the Guandu River, which supplies 80% of the water of the metropolitan region of the State and also has the largest water treatment plant in the world. The initiative provides for the cultivation of more than 200 thousand Atlantic forest seedlings, including endangered species such as theJucara palm, Jequitiba, Jacaranda and Pau-Brazil trees.

"In addition to mobilizing students and teachers to plant seedlings, MMX is committed to ensuring the maintenance of the area so that the seedlings can develop," says Luciano Ferreira, Director of Operations at the Sudeste Superport, a project that is under construction on the Ilha da Madeira, in Itaguai.

Glauco Bezerra Souza, a student at the Nova Iguacu SESI Unit, also helped to plant a tree during the event. To him, this effort is a practical contact which supports what was learnt in the classroom. He explains that reforestation is essential to resolve or mitigate environmental problems such as soil erosion and water pollution. "Many people do not pay attention and don't even value preservation. When they arrive here and participate, they feel much more willing to help", he says.

“Today's activity was a success, the day is beautiful and we can already see how the seedlings have grown since last year. Students who planted seedlings today get an idea of what will come next year", said Ivan Sa, an Environment specialist from the FIRJAN System.