‘More in hope’: lessons from our tiny reforestation scheme in the Amazon

Four years ago, we put down a first instalment on half a hectare of pasture in Altamira which had been degraded by fire and years of grazing cattle.

Unlike the vast majority of settlers in this region, we prefer living in semi-forest rather than cleared land because the trees provide shade, we think it is more beautiful and it feels healthier.

By the second year, the plot looked more like a head-high shrubbery, speckled with bright red seed pods.

An investor in a reforestation scheme needs to know that trees will be left to do what comes naturally without human interference.

I will nurture those solutions like my plants, more in hope than expectation, with one eye on the weather and one eye on the news.