The Scars

134 million seeds went onto the slopes a 2023 storm tore open.

In February 2023 a storm killed people in São Sebastião, on the north coast of São Paulo state, and ripped more than 200 hectares of Atlantic Forest off the hills. It left 853 landslide scars. The project that answered those scars is Restaura Litoral, coordinated by agronomist André Motta Waetge. Over three years the team dispersed 134 million seeds of native species by drone. With the work in its final phase, Mongabay reported on 14 October that more than 80 percent of the treated slopes now have forest cover. Waetge's point was that the forest would have returned on its own, slowly, and the drones were there to speed the scars that sit above houses. Brazil's geological service counts nearly 18,000 risk areas in the country, home to 4.6 million people.

This is a rapid-fire picture, not a fourth environment segment. The episode already has a grass bridge.

Key Facts

• February 2023 disaster, São Sebastião, São Paulo coast
• More than 200 hectares lost; 853 landslide scars
• 134 million native seeds by drone over three years
• More than 80 percent of treated slopes now have forest cover, per the project, reported by Mongabay
• Coordinator: André Motta Waetge, Restaura Litoral
• Nearly 18,000 mapped risk areas in Brazil; 4.6 million people (Serviço Geológico do Brasil)

Why This Matters

The before-and-after is a hillside that was mud and is now green, above a town that already buried its dead. Drone seeding is a method other scarred coasts can copy. It is not a claim that the Atlantic Forest is restored.

What We Don't Know Yet

Cover is not a mature forest. Mongabay does not give a survival rate by species, or say how many of the 853 scars were treated versus how many greened on their own. The 80 percent figure is the project's, not an independent audit.

Sources

• Mongabay Brasil