Today, Pachama is proud to support Mercado Libre as the company announces a new round of investment in its climate-leading Regenera América program, bringing total investment to $23.7 million.
As Latin America’s largest company and a world-leading e-commerce platform, Mercado Libre owes its success to constant innovation and a focus on developing entrepreneurial ecosystems. When considering how to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability, Mercado Libre chose to apply those strengths to environmental regeneration through Regenera América, a program to restore Latin America’s unique biomes. To help make its program a reality, Mercado Libre chose Pachama as its strategic partner.
Given that Latin America hosts 40% of the world’s biodiversity, Mercado Libre’s goal with Regenera América is not only to sequester carbon dioxide equivalent but also to protect biodiversity, enhance critical ecosystem services, and create green jobs. By taking a community-based approach to conservation and reforestation, Mercado Libre can ensure long-term success and maximum impact.
Now in its third year, Regenera América will support six projects across Mexico and Brazil, including three brand-new projects and three expansions of projects initiated in years past.
Those projects include the Curuá Project in the state of Pará. Located in one of the most densely forested regions of the Brazilian Amazon, Curuá seeks to restore areas devastated by deforestation. Novas Florestas, on the other hand, reforests 155 hectares of the Atlantic Forest in São Paulo state, a region rich in plant and animal diversity that provides potable water to millions of people downstream. Finally, Campeche Corridor aims to restore 720 hectares of the Mayan Jungle, Central America’s largest tropical forest.
In addition to supporting these three new projects, this year’s round of investment will see expansions to existing Regenera América projects in Brazil, including Águas do Rio, located upstream from Rio de Janeiro, Corredores Pau Brasil, a bio-corridor that creates connectivity between two national parks in Bahía state, and Café Apuí, an agro-forestry project located in Amazonas state. More information about all of these projects can be found on Regenera América’s website.
In total, including this year’s new round of investment, Regenera América projects will restore or conserve an estimated 15,000 hectares of native forest, equating to 14 million trees restored or conserved. Together, the projects will capture an estimated 1.1 million tons of CO2e and help avoid the emission of more than 3 million tons of CO2e.
As Mercado Libre’s strategic partner, Pachama provides technology and logistical support to enable Mercado Libre to invest confidently in project origination. As two companies that share similar values and a commitment to restorative activities in the Latin American region, we at Pachama are excited to see Regenera América expand and demonstrate the power of forest carbon to empower communities.
