Dialogue and collaborative work to find innovative solutions“ 

Governance on our planet faces several crises, but climate change demands special attention. In 2024, we reached an alarming milestone: the average global temperature increased by 1.5°C compared to pre-industrial levels. The consequences are devastating on several fronts, especially for global biodiversity, which has accumulated losses, often irreversible. 

To effectively address these challenges, our projects and our schools rely on dialogue as a central tool, with a broad network of stakeholders. This collaborative approach is one of our distinguishing features, allowing us to work together to find innovative and sustainable solutions. 

This has helped us achieve unprecedented feats, such as the planting of 10 million trees in the Atlantic Forest in an action that brought together companies, farmers and rural settlers through the Corridors for Life project, in Pontal do Paranapanema region (São Paulo state) , which will be 25 years old in 2025. 

Bringing people together to think about the future of the Amazon is another great achievement of IPÊ, since it began its activities in the Lower Rio Negro, also 25 years ago. There, we became another listening ear for the communities and a voice so that their issues could reach decision-makers. This resulted, for example, in the creation of the Puranga Conquista Sustainable Development Reserve, in Manaus, and today there are 17 communities that derive part of their livelihood from the sustainable use of the forest. 

The socio-environmental challenges we currently face are severe and are related to several problems, including economic ones. Solutions to overcome them, therefore, must consider all factors. Thus, our projects do not simply work to conserve a species, but consider the whole, such as the climate issue, which has generated increasing concern worldwide; food security and income generation for families within fair and sustainable production and activity. Additionally, we seek to share knowledge and promote social participation in processes for the common good. For us, nature is a path to promote transformation and not just an end. 

With this approach, we celebrated important milestones in 2024: our team reached 180 people, made up of professionals from different areas of knowledge; we improved our institutional capacity for performing projects and strengthening our governance and structure; we consolidated our work in Espírito Santo state and Pantanal region, as well as our actions in the Far South of Bahia region; and we started projects at the Socio-Environmental Innovation Laboratory. 

The results of this report show another year of hard work, but that’s not all. They carry within them a long history based on this essence of understanding the process in which we are inserted, the complexities of wildlife, forests and human beings. Here it is also possible to understand our next steps, the future we still want to build and that we want you to continue following and being a part of. 

Enjoy your reading! 

Eduardo Ditt, IPÊ’s executive director.