Pousada Serra Verde Ecolodge is located at the foot of the Picos do Marumbi, close to the charming colonial town of Morretes. We are in the Atlantic Rainforest in southern Brazil. When we bought the 1 hectare site, it was a disused plantation badly in need of repair and refuse removal. Rubbish and debris have been removed from the site, streams unblocked and the land has been managed rather than cleared. We have planted many (over 1,000) local plants across the site. Many plants, animals and birds have returned to the land now. The Ecolodge opened in 2018 and since then we have sought to help our guests understand and connect both with nature and the local community. We promote and support local producers and artisans, helping them to connect with tourists, thus understanding each others needs, and how important the environment is in achieving this.

We are involved in replanting native species across the Ecolodge and helping our neighbours do the same. We actively upcycle, repurpose and recycle wherever is possible and have experimented, with varying degrees of success, in various green technologies and building methods. Through our local English School, we have strong links with the local community and support several community-based projects.

Conservation & Community Highlights:

1. Progetto Salvando Arvores da Extincao: We are involved in this excellent project to replant indigenous trees in the Atlantic Rainforest
2. Ecoclub certified Ecolodge
3. Zero Plastics – we are signatories of the Global Tourism Plastic Initiative and are on a journey to remove all single-use plastics from our site. 
4. Community Initiatives: We are actively involved and support a community Taekwondo project which provides free classes to local children.
5. Through our small English School we offer accessible English classes for those who couldn’t otherwise afford it. We also run a fully funded scholarship program which currently has 4 students in it.

Future Aims:

1. We want to raise money to buy land close to us and then to replant these areas with native trees.
2. We want to become being carbon neutral.
3. We want to raise awareness locally about deforestation.

Images provided.