When we were growing up, stories like The Jungle Book made the forest feel like a magical, untamed world. We watched Mowgli leap through trees, befriend wild animals, and live in harmony with nature, and honestly, for a moment, we believed we could too. 

Years later, through Restor, we’ve come to know people who live that connection every day. Scientists, foragers, farmers, and Indigenous communities who understand forests intimately, not as something to tame, but something to learn from, live with, benefit from, and protect. Jorge “Forager” is one of them. Part of the bottom-up restoration movement.

Meet Jorge 

Jorge’s childhood curiosity about the nature surrounding his home has never left, and just like a child, each time he walks the path from his home to the forest, he is offered something new. When his family transitioned from conventional agriculture to agroforestry, it changed their relationship with the land and encouraged Jorge to dive even deeper into his understanding, research, and learning, and this shift supported the path he was already on — transforming knowledge into practical experiences. 

About the film

The latest short film by Restor follows Jorge Ferreira, an ethnobotanist and nature guide in Brazil who has dedicated his life and career to protecting the Atlantic Forest, a biodiversity hotspot in Brazil, and educating others about it.  Throughout, Jorge reminds us that we are unnecessarily complicating and dulling our lives by forgetting about the connection and beautiful diversity that local nature can offer us.

Five hundred years ago, the Atlantic Forest of Brazil covered approximately 330 million acres (about twice the size of Texas), but today, only 28% remains. Although it is just a small fraction of the size of the great Amazon rainforest, the Atlantic Forest still harbors a range of biological diversity similar to that of the Amazon and deserves the same global conservation priority.

These stories are of belonging, curiosity, and hope. So, you are invited to walk with Jorge and us. In the film, we see Jorge exploring ways to combine maintaining the biodiversity of the Atlantic rainforest whilst also building a livelihood around it. Jorge turns native ingredients and ecotourism (taking visitors on nature walks) into sources of income, and guides communities in sustainable harvesting, showing that nature can be an economically viable option. Watch the film below.

Join the movement

Storytelling is at the heart of Restor, amplifying the voices and stories of people and communities around the world working to protect and restore nature. This film is part of a broader series, A Restor Story, that journeys from India and South Africa, across the Atlantic Ocean to the Brazilian Amazon and the Atlantic rainforest, exploring seed saving, an experimental model of agroforestry, and one man’s journey to reconnect his community with nature.

What you can do:
●    Subscribe to the Restor newsletter for updates: https://bit.ly/RestorNewsletter.
●    Follow Restor (@restor.eco) on their channels to stay updated.
●    Watch all Restor short film series: https://bit.ly/ARestorStory.
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