The Mogi Guaçu Roots Program, an innovative technical-institutional cooperation partnership signed in 2018 between International Paper, now Sylvamo after the business separation, and WWF-Brazil, a global non-profit organization, which works to change the current trajectory of worldwide environmental degradation and promote a future where society and nature live in harmony and which is part of the WWF network, aims to recover and restore springs and riparian areas of the Atlantic Forest in the Mogi Guaçu river basin, in the eastern region of the state of São Paulo and southern Minas Gerais.

The goal is being put into practice by planting seedlings of native species, produced by collecting seeds from trees in the region itself. The plantings are being carried out on properties in the municipalities of Socorro (SP), Lindóia (SP) and Bueno Brandão (MG), where the partner landowners receive free technical support and native Atlantic Forest seedlings produced by Copaíba.

One of the great highlights of the program is the premise of promoting multisectoral dialogue, enhancing connectivity and breadth in the involvement of the various actors, especially in identifying and dialoguing with landowners. The collaboration promoted by Raízes do Mogi Guaçu aims to raise community awareness of the importance of the issue, strengthen local governance and create a network for the protection of springs and ecological restoration in this important river basin.

Raízes do Mogi Guaçu is being carried out by the Copaíba Environmental Association and IFEAC/Federal Institute of Southern Minas Gerais, as well as many Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), companies, municipalities and research institutes involved in this restoration network.