Santa Catarina, January 24, 2017 – Klabin, Brazil’s largest paper producer and exporterand the leader in the packaging, corrugated board and industrial bags segments, highlights the excellent results of its environmental education program in Santa Catarina, which completes 10 years in 2017 with 12,000 participants in the 40 cities where the company operates.

The Program of Monitored Visits to the Araucária Trail and the Caiubi Environmental Center are part of the environmental education project implemented by Klabin in Correia Pinto, Santa Catarina. It is a continuous and permanent program, which brings wealth of information on the rich fauna and flora of the region, forest formation, as well as characteristics and composition of the forests to the public, students and teachers in the region. The lectures are formatted according to age group, with appropriate language and also include videos of wild animals living in the company’s forests, as well as photos.

Besides strengthening relations with surrounding communities, Klabin saw in the program one more alternative that helps to preserve the Araucária Forest, an endangered environment in the Planalto Serrano region preserved by the company. Direct interaction with visitors generates knowledge and broad interest in the need for preservation and the sustainability actions implemented by Klabin in its areas, which serves as an example for the entire region and the information is disseminated by students and teachers themselves.

In the Araucária Trail, visitors discover a rich biodiversity formed by native species, such as Araucária Angustifolia, Podocarpus Lambertii, diverse types of Mirtaceas, Lauraceas and local fauna, all of which are important instruments in putting environmental education into practice. The trail is inside a preserved area of the forest, which includes watersheds and riparian forests in the vicinity of the Tributos and Canoas rivers. The Caiubi Environmental Center, which is completing two years of existence, has an auditorium for lectures that are given before visits to the Trail, and complete infrastructure to welcome the visitors.

So far during the Project, around eight thousand people have listened to the lectures, including by external speakers made upon request, and four thousand visits have been made to the Trail, which includes participation by more than 70 schools and institutions in the regions where Klabin operates, such as Planalto Serrano, Vale do Itajaí and Planalto de Canoinhas. In addition to informative material, the company also distributes a customized memory game with images and descriptions of the fauna living in the Araucárias Forest. During the period, more than 10,000 games were distributed.