Plan for the Future
Plan for the Future is really about building a foundation. This step is often overlooked because it takes time, generations in fact.
Humans are a fickle species. We have so many things fighting for our attention that it is easy to embrace a problem like deforestation one day, only to forget about it when the next issue grabs the headlines the following week.
The answer to this is to build the awareness of the problem and what it takes to resolve through a variety of educational programs. These programs target different people in different ways, but always stay focused on the long term sustainability of the rainforest.
These projects also look to show industry and the local farmer simple methods of giving back to the environment. The rainforest doesn't have to be isolated to thrive. Simple processes will allow the use of the environment without the devastating impact people and farmers have had on the rainforest to date.
Mata Grande Project
The Mata Grande social farming project, located in the northwest of Goiás State (Brazil), embraces an area of 9.585 acres (3.834 hectars) and was installed 3 years ago. Nowadays, has 60 families, organized as an association that survives from agricultural subsistences of rice, corn, manioc, pumpkin and beans.
This area is determined by the presence of important native vegetation fragments of “Mata Seca Calcária” (Savannah), which has been mostly destroyed by its former owners. Recently, in a big area that borders the project, was created a FLONA (National Forest), an ambiental protection where the vegetation can´t be taken off, but managed by local inhabitants use, in a sustainable way.
The project “Sustainable use of medicinal plants of Savannah by the Mata Grande assentamento community, São Domingos (GO) zone” took place in 2003 and is a partnership among local communities, Centroflora Group, IBAMA (Brazilian Environment Recyclable Resources Institute) and Floravida Institute.
Main Project Advantages
- To promote the Savannah bio diversity conservation.
- To promote environmental awareness of inhabitants communities.
- To develop local participation strategies management of local natural resources.
- To develop Savannah alternative ethic exploration ways, as a variation of local income.
- Debates about an interaction way among company, public origan and community.
- To rescue traditional knowledge, associated by Savannah medicinal plants use.
- To develop farming and sustainable sources of native medicinal species.
Developed Activities
- Environmental agent lessons, where 20 community member groups were prepared.
- Common roll of native medicinal plants, with botanical species identification.
- Common meetings to discuss a way to build a local cooperative.
- Meetings among social farming project women.
- First studies in maintaining native local plants.
School Goes to the Woods
The objective of this Environmental Educational Project is based on a permanent commitment of our organization towards relevant social aspects surrounding us, trying to benefit people through environmental knowledge and culture, and above all, being sure that in our company social issues are obligations of the management and the employees as a whole.
Centroflora is placed on an environmental pyramid. This project demonstrates its philosophy involving the concern with renewable natural resources, adequate use of the soil, conscience of organic production and the destiny of solid residues from industrial effluents treatment.
Environmental issues have their origin in the lack of information and environmental awareness of humanit. This is worsened by the effects of technologic, agricultural, urban and industrial residues that are indiscriminately carried to the soil, atmosphere and our water system. In the environmental area, our organization is conscious and responsible for the rational utilization of natural resources, besides the high investment in its industrial residues destiny.
The project “A ESCOLA VAI À MATA” began in October 2001, and through this project Centroflora Group encourages environmental preservation and recuperation of our country, collaborating for the citizens to become conscious of the role played by them.
The project “A ESCOLA VAI À MATA” proposes to develop an environmental education work initially in the 4th grades of the elementary school, since we consider at this age, students have a better assimilation capacity.
The project includes lectures, illustrative films and a “Cerrado” [savannah] animals photo sequence, taken inside our premises, therefore producing interactivity among students in a short period of time.
Some of the topics discussed are:
- RECYCLING AND COMPREHENSION OF WATER RESOURCES AND THEIR LIMITATIONS
- ORGANIC AND BIODYNAMIC AGRICULTURE
- ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AT DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL
Our purpose is to provide moments of pleasure and learning for students and to show them a realistic vision of our environment and the need to preserve it.
In partnership with Botucatu Environmental Police, the project “A ESCOLA VAI À MATA” teaches them the importance of our flora and fauna, so that in the very close future we can see again the beautiful animals of our fauna free and fully integrated with human being.
Adolescer Project
The Adolescer Project has the mission to build educational, health and social welfare work to needing teenagers of our city. This gives them the chance to review general concepts and to participate in several activities in order to contribute to their life improvement and well being, guiding them to a quality adult life.
The project embraces needing teenagers – 14 to 16 years old – that are attending public school classes.
It´s an eight-month 20 students program, 3 days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) oriented activities, in a total of 370 hours of general training. All the activities are realized inside Centroflora´s facilities, guided by different areas, volunteers and professionals, such as teachers, doctors, psychologists and more.
The teenagers selection and follow up are the responsibility of social entities of our City, Public Districts and FEBEM (State Children Welfare Foundation).
Those entities, as project partners, are also responsible for sending basic information (family situation, schooling and psychological aspects).
By the end of the project, the participants get a personalized certificate and according to the circumstances, they can be indicated to technical schools, social entities or local employment agencies.
Espinheira Santa Vivarium
(Partnerships for a Better World)
This program was developed with the purpose of aggregating phytotherapic consumers (industry) around organically cultivated (certified by IBD)" and sustainable medicinal plant extracts and fruits production. The objective is phytotherapic extracts production where control is a process beginning with raw material, organic cultivation, harvest, controlled processing and extraction (and drying) within organic standards (certified by IBD - Botucatu).
Cultivation is made through Centroflora's (environmental group) internal monitoring, always inclined to encourage Brazilian agricultural communities towards organic and sustainable crop production, where crop purchase is guaranteed by our clients, who are concerned with the origin of their phytotherapic extracts. Extraction is carried out within our Botucatu units, all of them organic certified and prepared to extract up to 600 tons / month of medicinal plants.
The advantages of our program are to supply our clients with raw materials of high quality (extracts), to encourage needy agricultural communities and to promote extracts production. The control is done from the soil cultivation to the final packing of the phytotherapic product.The final product is organic guaranteed, free from genetic manipulations, free from toxic solvent residues, free from pesticides and heavy metals ...... like a phytotherapic (natural product) should always be.
Providing phytotherapic extracts:
- Know better the phytotherapic extract origin.
- Avoid problems related to solvent, pesticides and heavy metals residues.
- Offer genetic manipulation-free extracts.
- Offer the client the best products.
- Raw material (herbs) cultivated or collected with harvest control (environmental group).
- Heavy metal control.
- Organics (IBD certification).
Socio-Environmental Project Composting
Medicinal plant waste (leaves, seeds, peals, flowers), pass by decomposition or stabilization conducted by a diversified population of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes. Its composting is developed based on the strict control of factors affecting the process – humidity, aeration and temperature – and by the turning cycle imposed to the composting mass.
Composting performed involves simplified processes occurring in yards where waste is disposed in furrows for their controlled biodegradation until humus is formed, which besides being a macro and micro nutrient source, favors soil physical condition.
A large part of the composting produced is used in the local green area and in socio-environmental projects promoted by the company.
Through composting processes, waste derived from industrial extraction of medicinal plants are transformed into agricultural input used in the:
- Organic kitchen garden
- Medicinal Garden
- Reforestation Area
- Project Replanting for Life
- Project Green Backyard
Quintal Verde
"Working with simple techniques and tools, making use of the available space in the backyard of their houses, among plant beds prepared with their own hands, men find out that they are protagonist of their history and that it is possible to cultivate work instead of immobility, showing trust instead of despair and preserving faith, even when everything seems to be lost."
“Quintal Verde” project consists, at first, of a low-scale vegetable production by low income families in the city of Botucatu. Besides obtaining fresh and healthy products for their own consumption and saving for the family budget, the setting up of this project aims to awaken the possibility of changing the course of the participating families' lives, through adoption of a more dynamic relationship with the world.
This project was established through a partnership between Centroflora Group, supplying vegetable seedlings and technical assistance, and "Obra Social Madre Marina Videmari", organized and administrated by the Marcelinas Nuns providing educational support for children, from kindergarten to fourth grade.
Medicinal Yard
The first stage of this plant collection has already been established. It includes approximately 100 medicinal species originated from several parts of the world, such as African Aloe Vera (Aloe), Brazilian Lippia Sidoides Cham (“Alecrim Pimenta”), European Atropa Belladonna (Belladonna) and Digitalis Purpurea (Digitalis) and several others. It will have, in the future, a lake where aquatic medicinal plants will be exposed.
The first Medicinal Yard appeared in Europe and Near East and were, in general, adjoined to temples or sacred woods, being priests responsible for their care, whose role was later passed to the primitive sorcerers and later on to the doctors.
Presently, the Medicinal Yard acts as reference to several species of medicinal, cosmetic and also food interest.
Centroflora Medicinal Yard, in the set up phase, acts as a matrix area, where several species of interest integrate a varied collection which, besides serving as an observation and research field, remains open to visitation by teaching, research entities, etc.
The idea of working in partnership with small producers in medicinal plant cultivations began in 1996, when Centroflora developed certified medicinal organic plant cultivation projects together with Ceará State producers.
Presently, the company installed Centroflora research field, located near the company’s industrial area in Botucatu/SP. This is where activities connected to research organic cultivation of some medicinal and exotic plants are already being developed.
In this research field we have tried to establish a sustainable agricultural activities cycle interconnected with the botanic extracts production. Through decomposing processes, residues from medicinal plant industrial extraction are transformed into agricultural input and the water utilized in industrial processes, through ETA (Water Treatment Station) will be reutilized in agricultural systems irrigation.
Centroflora research field benefits from the advantage of being very near the laboratory and industrial units, which facilitates the integration of such areas around research works, also counting on trained labor in social projects developed in the company.
It is our intention to gather important knowledge on medicinal species, which might be passed over to producers in partnership.
Organic Kitchen
"A green area within the company provides an approximation of urban to rural environment, stimulating the creation of a healthier new life model."
The Organic Kitchen Garden Project that Centroflora develops within its research field, has as objective the “organic” concept diffusion in all its extension among the company’s employees and their relatives. Vegetables produced there are sold to employees and the company’s restaurant. The profit is used in the purchasing of seeds, seedlings and other inputs.
The kitchen garden is organically cultivated, that is, without utilization of soluble fertilizer or chemical defensives, being certified by Instituto Biodinâmico (IBD). The major part of inputs utilized is produced in the company’s area itself, such as the organic compound.
Next to the kitchen garden an orchard was installed with several fruit species, also organically cultivated.
The kitchen garden is surrounded by native “cerrado" vegetation.
To Recycle is to Live
The project's objective is to make employees more conscious about the environmental issues surrounding them in both units. This was achieved with a campaign involving all employees through an internal contest baptized as "Projeto Reciclar é Viver", having ZÉCO (Zé Ecologia) as a mascot. The campaign's purpose was to encourage employees to bring plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass and paper to the company.
Selective garbage collectors were installed in the company with the purpose of encouraging recycling.
The project consists of turning the material brought by the employees into points and consequently in coupons, and at the end of the year a lottery will be held where those with more coupons will have better chances of winning prizes. A partnership between the Employees’ Association and Centroflora Group was established to sell the collected material so that the profit would be reverted to the benefit of the Association.
This project is based on the Environmental Management Plans set up in other companies aiming for the improvement of environmental ecological issues and needs to be monitored in order to achieve good results.
Projects
- Mata Grande
- School Goes to the Woods
- Adolescer Project
- Partnerships for a Better World
- Composting
- Quintal Verde
- Medicinal Yard
- Organic Kitchen
- Recycle
Mata Grande Project
School Goes to the Woods
Adolescer Project
Partnerships for a Better World
Project Composting
Quintal Verde
Medicinal Yard
Organic Kitchen
To Recycle is to Live
