Búzios, in the Lakes Region of Rio de Janeiro, has one of the last units of original Atlantic forest , neither reforested nor deforested, on the Brazilian coast. It is part of an Environmental Preservation Unit of 10,564,000 hectares, created by state decree in May 2002. The role of the Búzios Mata Atlântica Ecological Institute (IEBMA), founded in 1996 by Hugo Iurcovich and Dr. Janis Roze, who, with the participation of Professor Amanda Bernal, from the City University of New York, and the Earthwatch Institute, based in Boston, and participants from around the world, discovered and cataloged scientific and environmental studies, in one 15-year effort, 574 seedlings and young and mature trees from Pau Brasil.

The Atlantic Forest, due to the expansion of agriculture and urban development, had about 93% of its cover destroyed. In Búzios, in the mediations corresponding to Praia de José Gonçalves, passing by Praia das Caravelas, to the beginning of Praia do Peró, on the borders with Cabo Frio, in addition to pau brasil, the preserved forest also presents rare plants such as the orchid of vanilla, which grows on the trunks of pau brazil, as well as 30 species of bromeliads that retain water and serve as a water source for animals in times of drought, especially the golden lion tamarin and the sloth.

Since then, the IEBMA has assisted the environmental authorities responsible for both the Pau Brasil EPA and the later created Costa do Sol State Park (PCsol), in a unit with the State Environmental Institute (INEA), voluntarily carrying out inspection and monitoring of activities within the forest. In addition, they also develop coordinated actions, such as rescuing wild animals, fighting fires and replanting seedlings around the forest, environmental education activities for children, young people and adults , in collaboration with the Civil Association Village Praia das Caravelas (ACVPC) , with support from the Hotel Apa Pau Brasil.

The coordination of animal rescues in 2011 during the environmental catastrophes in Nova Friburgo, in the Serrana Region; rescue actions and reintroduction of animals to the original environment in 2012 in Região dos Lagos; and fighting fires in 2016 in the forest areas of the municipality of Búzios. The IEBMA has always had numerous and valuable volunteers over 25 years. From an existing initial structure, since the 1980s, the IEBMA, in partnership with ACVPC and Hotel APA Pau Brasil, maintains one of the few Sewage Treatment and Reuse Plants (ETERS)

with the reuse of treated water from the interior of Rio de Janeiro and the first in the region, ensuring that Praia das Caravelas is totally free of sanitary effluents of any kind, as well as the maintenance and revitalization of two lakes that had dried up due to climatic variations. The IEBMA also promotes the objective of making the village located inside the forest in the first ecological neighborhood of Búzios, also carrying out the collection of organic waste for composting and other activities.

With the support of the APA Pau Brasil Hotel, we maintain a space for lectures and environmental and sociocultural activities open to the community , in the auditorium, where several meetings, forums and debates of importance to the municipality and region have already been held, in the vicinity of Praia das Caravelas . Among the outstanding facts, it hosted some of the meetings for the political administrative emancipation of Búzios, which expressed a popular desire. The IEBMA has also, since the 1990s, carried out audiovisual production

with the objective of raising awareness of the risks to the Atlantic Forest’s biodiversity, publicizing the work of preservation and also increasing human awareness about the interconnection between human beings and nature. Some of these documentaries have been linked worldwide on various television channels and are now available free of charge to everyone through this space on the internet.

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