Tijuca Forest History

The Tijuca forest is the greatest example of urban reforestation in the world. It all started in the mid-nineteenth century, where large fires made space for coffee plantations. Slaves and immigrants worked in coffee plantations. The burns compromised the Atlantic Forest and water sources.

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The devastation was so great that it caused a shortage of water in the city. To prevent the problem from getting worse, the government began to expropriate the farms around the springs. Even so, in 1860 the situation was critical. The real solution was in reforestation. It took almost 30 years to replant seedlings in the region. With the transition from the monarchy to the republic, reforestation attention was no longer the focus, but the process had already begun and in 50 years the forest regenerated on its own. Currently the forest has 900 types of plants and 230 different types of animals Not counting insects.