“I was born in a family that has always brought me into nature, even though I grew up in São Paulo, a huge city with 25 million people,” begins Felipe Villela, a young Brazilian environmental entrepreneur and Founder of reNature. In this episode of Regenerative Rising’s Regenerative Voices™ Elevating Stories Activating Change podcast, Felipe joins guest host, Nancy Coulter-Parker, to share more about the important relationship between agroforestry and regenerative agriculture in protecting the biodiversity of our most vital ecosystems.
Growing up with a nature-loving mom and banker dad, Felipe traveled the world studying ecosystems before returning home to spend time in the Amazon Rainforest. Back in Brazil, he learned from the indigenous communities about their ways of living in harmony with nature and their deep respect for the biodiversity present there. Upon leaving the Amazon, he was devastated to see the deforestation and poor forest management for the commoditization of soybeans, cattle, and logging. This was a wake-up call to him to help industries with unsustainable agriculture practices shift to more regenerative ones and that is why Felipe started reNature. Learn more about his work with large organizations like Nespresso, and his ambitious goal of 1 million hectares of land regenerated by 2030 in this podcast.
