Forests around the world are suffering. Threatened（威胁） by drought（干旱）, extreme weather and deforestation（砍伐森林）. It's a vocation（职业） and a calling to observe（遵守） this damaged environment and to recognise that we must restore（恢复） the forest to give back to the world. We've realised that other players, including indigenous（本土的） groups, can be experts in their field with very valuable knowledge. People everywhere are looking for ways to halt（停止） the die-off of our forests. We're injecting（注入） the roots（根） with a variety of spores（孢子）, leading to a much healthier forest ecosystem from the start.

  How can we save ancient woodlands while creating new forests? Stefan Schaffa wants to plant very unique（唯一的） new forests. He started two years ago and has found others who share his vision（视）. The buds（芽） on the spindle are opening. He wants to create new woodlands on many plots, known as tiny forests. Species rich, wild and resilient（弹回的）.

  Yes, that's our baby, the first forest we planted. We did it through crowdfunding back then and were relatively（ 相对地） unsure（ 缺乏自信的）, but then we raised enough money. It was really exciting. The 27-year-old forest scientist and his friends collected €14,000 and planted their first miniature（微型的） forest. 3,000 ground-covering plants shrubs（灌木） and trees. The native species are planted close together and compete with each other for light, which makes them grow unusually fast.

  The tiny forest concept（概念） was developed in the 1980s by Japanese botanist（植物学家） Akira Miyawaki. Small new forests, ideal for urban（都市的） areas. Stefan looks at how nature works in nearby（附近的） forests to gain（获得） a better understanding of what his tiny forests need. The foliage（树叶） here, the biomass that falls from the trees. We try to compensate（偿还） in our tiny forests during the early years with straw or chopped（砍）-up hardwood（硬木）. It's like firing up the system at the start, giving it what it would normally have after several decades.

  And then we can leave it on its own after a short period, which means it doesn't have to do all the hard work of developing soil and humus because it's there from the start. They enriched（使充实） the soil with nutrients as a trial（试验） before planting, and then left a different area untouched（ 未触动过的） to judge its success. A 3D scanner records everything that's growing. Are they on the right track? The images give a clear answer. On the right-hand side, grown according（使一致） to the Miyawaki method, the trees are especially healthy.

  That's our liveliest（活泼的） section. It's really dense（密集的）. Stefan Schaffa has big plans for his tiny forests. This rainforest in Brazil would now be a barren（不生育的） wasteland if two people hadn't decided to dedicate their lives to saving native woodlands. Miriam Crotono and Vigol Schaffa are the descendants（子孙） of German immigrants. They've fought hard for this 50-hectare（公顷） forest reserve（储备(物)）.

  The area is special to the pair because it's where they met for the first time, when she was 17 and he was 23. Both their love for each other and their passion for saving Brazil's coastal（海滨的） rainforests were born（承担） here. Sunday was the day we met. That was the day we always went for a walk. And we saw the good things, but also the not-so-good things. And that always bothered us.

  That can't be right. Something had to be done. We talk about nature conservation（保存） over lunch, at dinner, always. We've managed to save a bit, but there's a long way to go. Dense rainforests like these used to cover all of Brazil's southeast. The forest is known as the Mata Atlantica.

  But many species are also popular with the timber（木材） industry. Vigol Schaffa is looking for a specific tree. This is the first tree I ever planted in my life. I was five years old in 1964 and it's an Arukaria. The Brazilians call the Arukaria Her Majesty（威严）, a straight trunk with exceptional（例外的） wood. These little Arukaria plants, they're growing from seeds from the tree I planted.

  The young couple collected the seeds of the giant jungle trees in the 70s and grew seedlings（秧苗） on their terrace（梯田的一层） to plant wild forests. At the time, they had no idea where their ideas would take them. But by 1987, Apramavi, a project to save forests, was born. It's now a kind of non-profit tree nursery（托儿所） with a staff of 25. Morning. All good?

  Yes, all good. The 63-year-old visits the nursery every day. The soil is a special blend（混和） of minerals（矿物）, rice husks（（果类或谷物的）外壳(通常用复数)）, pine bark and fertilisers. Up to 5,000 seedlings are planted here every day. The seeds are stored in a special refrigerated room. Vigol Schaffa checks the latest delivery（投递）.

  We managed to get good quality Arukaria seeds. These will yield（屈服） around 20,000 seedlings（秧苗） that will be planted in the coming days. 200 different types of trees are grown at the nursery, primarily（首先） to save ancient species. Vigol learned some German from his parents, but when it comes to trees, he'd rather stick to Portuguese. And here we have the Pao Brazil, the tree that gives Brazil its name and that's been heavily exploited（开拓） since colonialisation, primarily for export to Europe for the manufacture（制造） of dyes（染料） to colour textiles（纺织品）. This is an extremely important tree that was practically（实际上） extinct in our forests, and today we're working on re-introducing these species to our reforestation zones（地区） in the Atlantic rainforest.

  The reforestation project relies（依赖） on donations（捐款）. The work is financed（筹集资金） by private individuals or companies that care about the rainforests. A computer programme has tracked（ 跟踪） areas where new forests have been planted since 2022. The progress can be seen online. All the green areas show the farmland where we've already worked. Reforestation, in a country where a powerful agricultural（ 农业的） lobby（大厅） has fuelled（给…加燃料） jungle deforestation（砍伐森林） for many years.

  The mixed woodland directly behind the nursery was planted 17 years ago. Vigol Shatha wanted to find out what a small, 16-hectare forest could do for the environment and commissioned（委任） a study. The result? Reforestation is worthwhile（值得花时间的）.