Walk Brasília's living agroforest gallery

Walk Brasília's living agroforest gallery

Cultiva Lab turns about 6,200 m² between SESI Lab and the Biblioteca Nacional into an open-air agroecology laboratory. Roughly 90 species from four Brazilian biomes (Cerrado, Amazônia, Mata Atlântica, Caatinga) grow together to answer one question in public: can you restore an ecosystem and produce food on the same piece of ground?

What you can do

• Walk the Cultiva Lab gallery and read its four growth phases as they unfold: pioneer species and first harvests, then ecological succession, vegetation layering, and a mature canopy
• Look for the short-cycle food crops planted between the large trees (corn, squash, cassava, vegetables, medicinal herbs) and for the sensors that track soil and climate
• Follow the pedagogical trails and mediated activities on soil regeneration, biodiversity, food security, and the relationship between city and nature
• Trace circular economy in practice on site: water, nutrient, and material flows are routed back through the system to cut waste

How it works

The technical design came from IPOEMA (Instituto de Permacultura), structured by forest engineer Cláudio Jacintho, and was approved by IPHAN and the urban-planning bodies. The plot sits inside the GDF Adote uma Praça programme and feeds SESI Lab STEAM and CTSA education. Entry follows museum ticketing, including free first-Sunday admission (Visite). Over five years the project plans residencies for 50 artists and 50 researchers working on soil regeneration, carbon capture, and agroforestry systems.

Why it matters

The numbers are stated honestly. About 3 to 5 tonnes of food in the first two years go to ten social institutions in the Distrito Federal, and the system is expected to capture roughly 10 tonnes of CO2e a year against the some 700 tonnes the museum's own activity generates. Cultiva Lab is not sold as an offset: it is a measured public experiment showing that food, forest, and culture can share the same ground in the middle of a capital.

Source & repost

Shared here so you can get inspired or find action already happening near you. Solarpunker does not own or organise it.
Source: SESI Lab: Exposições / Cultiva Lab · Visite · Partner context: Adote uma Praça (GDF). Production, carbon, and residency figures fact-checked against launch coverage: G1 DF, CNI.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Hortas urbanas serão financiadas pelo Funam (19633082372) (CC BY 2.0, Agência Brasília).