Wild animals are seen in areas of the Grupo BBF

World Environment Day - What used to be a vast expanse of deforested areas in the Amazon rainforest, with no life in them, are now a green space, with recovered soil, retained carbon and wild animals roaming around. This is what happens in the oil palm cultivation areas of Grupo BBF (Brasil BioFuels) in Pará and Roraima. In the more than 75,000 hectares cultivated by the company, around 5,000 records have already been made and more than 400 species of wild animals have been identified in the latest monitoring campaigns. These include reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals and fish, some of which are classified as rare and even threatened with extinction.

Among the endangered species are the giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), the spider monkey (Ateles paniscus) and the peccary (Tayassu pecari). We also found golden monkeys (Saguinus midas), ocelots (Leopardus pardalis), tapirs (Tapirus terrestres) and others that are normally seen in highly conserved environments.

Despite the technical limitations in carrying out the studies, Grupo BBF 's sustainability team has already observed a diversity of more than 85 species of reptiles and amphibians, 270 birds, 25 mammals and 40 fish in the company's cultivation areas. "We believe that this number could be much higher, considering the richness of Brazil's biomes and the benefits generated by our activities. Bioindicator species of good environmental quality were found, which attests to the effectiveness of the actions taken to preserve the environment in the company's region of influence," says Milton Steagall, CEO of Grupo BBF.

Oil palm cultivation by Grupo BBF follows Brazilian legislation to the letter, which is considered to be one of the strictest in the world. According to the Agroecological Zoning of Oil Palm(Decree 7.172), its cultivation recovers areas that were degraded until 2007 in the Amazon. In a robust study carried out by Embrapa (the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation), more than 31 million hectares were identified as suitable for oil palm cultivation in the Amazon."

"We planted oil palm in anthropized areas that were bare and lifeless, a plant that recovers degraded soil and contributes to the connectivity between natural environments, mitigating impacts associated with the fragmentation of ecosystems, which contributes to the preservation of biodiversity in the region. In addition, oil palm generates employment and income for the local population and its final destination is the generation of renewable energy and biofuels. It's an example of a bioeconomy and a model for generating wealth in the region, which makes it possible to keep the forest standing," explains Steagall.

Grupo BBF is a palm oil producer in Latin America. The company cultivates 60,000 hectares of the plant in Pará and approximately another 15,000 in Roraima. Around 800,000 tons of carbon are captured annually in these areas: 729,000 tons in Pará and 71,000 tons in Roraima. In addition, the company takes care of more than 60,000 hectares of Legal Reserve areas, which annually store around 26.6 million tons of carbon in Pará and 3.1 million tons of carbon in Roraima.