Collective Córregos da Tiririca: Restoration of Riparian Forest in a Tributary Stream of Itaipu Lagoon, Niterói-RJ, Brazil

The lake system Itaipu-Piratininga in Niterói, north of the Guanabara Bay, is drained by a set of streams. As a result of urban expansion in the oceanic region of the city, those streams became dirty and polluted. In a time-scale of twenty-five years, after studies on water biodiversity, the lake system became eutrophied, with shallow waters. One way to recover the health of the ecosystem is to restore the freshwater rivers draining the system. The present study proposes to inform about the experience of agroforestry restoration of the riparian forest in a tributary of Itaipu lake, as well as to bring an evaluation of local biodiversity – arboreal plants, terrestrial, and aquatic vertebrates. After the inventory was made, there followed the agroforestry planting of the riparian forest by the organized civil society through the collective Córregos da Tiririca [streams at Tiririca mountains]. The technique employed for restoration is related, as it corresponds to an adaptation of the principles of syntropic agriculture to the reality of an urban stream.