PROJECT-SUPPORT BRAZIL

Association Help for Animals and the Environment in Brazil, Switzerland

Country / Place

Brazil, João Pessoa

João Pessoa, officially Município de João Pessoa, is the capital of the state of Paraíba. The city is located on the Atlantic coast in the northeast of Brazil and had an estimated 820'00 inhabitants in July 2020. Before the arrival of the Europeans, the area was a popular settlement area, especially the Caetés tribe inhabited the banks of the Rio São Domingos.

The first Europeans to enter the area were the French, followed by the Portuguese and the Dutch. After the reconquest by the Portuguese from the Dutch, the city was given the name "Paraíba". In 1930, the governor of the state of Paraíba, João Pessoa, was assassinated. The city's population then decided to rename the city "João Pessoa".

General

Since 1992, the Hans Haller Foundation has been committed to helping the poor in north-eastern Brazil. Projects include family planning, placement of orphans and abandoned children with Brazilian foster mothers, child welfare and much more. In autumn 2020, Hans Haller founded the association Help for Animals and the Environment in Brazil, to additionally work for animal and environmental protection.

The association concerns itself with animals, by neutering street dogs and cats, caring for injured marine life, breeding and distributing native stingless bees, and engaging in other outreach activities. In environmental protection, they help reforest mangroves and Atlantic primeval forest. Waste management is also important for them, which means everything from educating children and providing information on prevention, to litter collection campaigns on beaches. 

Project-support 2022 – Reforestation

The Atlantic Forest is part of the João Pessoa area. Its surfaces are increasingly disappearing, since a large number of the settlements are located in this coastal area. Thanks to the special climatic conditions, many distinct species of trees grow here. In addition, there is a great variety of animals, many of which are endemic, i.e. they can only be found in the Atlantic Forest.

Since the beginning of 2021, the association has been cooperating with the Tabajara tribe. Their territory is located in a huge disused bamboo plantation in Conde, south of João Pessoa. Seedlings of the Atlantic Forest are planted here since spring 2021. To make the soil more fertile and to produce food, cassava plants, pumpkins, maize, and beans are planted in between. 

Project-support 2024 – Ecological barriers

Since 2023, the association, together with a professor from the State University of Paraiba, has been realising projects for natural wastewater treatment from households and eco-barriers in rivers. The eco-barrier involves anchoring 'islands' made of pet bottles and aquatic plants in the river. The islands stop the plastic waste, and the plants clean the water.

The eco-barriers are constructed together with the local residents, who monitor and look after them. This means that they collect the waste and if the 'islands' have shifted due to weather and currents, they put them back in the right place. They receive a monthly compensation for these tasks.