Unicamp has more Brazilwood seedlings in Praça da Paz. The initiative was in celebration of Arbor Day (21). “People always set days to celebrate significant dates. But the trees, nature, are here every day at our disposal”, said Janaína de Fátima Fontebasso, from the Environment Division (DMA), when welcoming the university community that attended the activity. It was an initiative of the Sustainable University Management Group (GGUS), the City Hall DMA and the UniversIDADE Program.
A broad program was developed, which began with a poetic meeting in the shade of the trees, where several generations met, including a group of children from the Unicamp Education System. Employee Jorge Luis Florêncio told a little about the history of Praça da Paz, created in 1986. Afterwards, there was a tour guided on site by biologist Adriano Grandinetti Amarante, an employee of the campus City Hall. Brazilwood seedlings were planted and the idea is to expand this action to other Unicamp squares, commented GGUS employee Maria Gineusa de Medeiros e Souza.
Adriano Grandinetti introduced people to the trees in the square and their peculiarities. He showed baobabs, jacarandás-da-bahia, pau-brasis, jequitibás, sapucaias, aroeiras, oil palm, and ipês. According to the biologist, there are more than 50 species of trees in Praça da Paz. “The purpose of the walk was to approach the urban landscape, the green areas and learn a little about its history.” Adriano, who has worked at the University for 32 years, said, for example, that Brazilian rosewood is used in sculptures in many Brazilian churches and that the baobab “represents to African culture what Brazilwood represents to our country.” .
The biologist reported that Unicamp professors, on their trips and expeditions, brought many seeds here from other regions, which ended up being used by the institution. “And since the 1980s, Unicamp has been undergoing a major revitalization. We have more than 150 species native to the Atlantic Forest, as well as exotic species. Today we do it for the trees, then they do it for us. Here we carry out planting, removal, maintenance, compensation with planting. In recent years, we have planted six thousand trees. Every week they are wetted with water extracted from our dams”, he revealed.
During the walk, the event was attended by Jorge Tamashiro, retired professor from the Institute of Biology (IB), author of the book Campus Trees. He contributed to the identification of more than 400 species of trees at Unicamp. Also at the celebration was gardener-poet Sebastião Martins Vidal, who at the age of 80 is teaching environmental education to around 900 students in the Unicamp Education system. “We need to tell this story, because it also talks about us. If we explain this concept of caring for nature to this generation of children, our future will be much better”, he believes.
For little Júlia Lopes, 4 years old, this was a different trip. She says that she has never seen so many beautiful trees, despite having come to the square to play on other occasions. This time, the focus was especially on getting to know the trees. Rafael Altino, 4 years old, said that there are many trees at his school and that they produce delicious fruits, such as jabuticaba, pitanga, blackberries and guava. "If it depends on these children, Unicamp will not lack trees", highlighted Sebastião.
