Laboratório de Ecologia e Restauração Florestal

What Laboratório de Ecologia e Restauração Florestal does

Laboratório de Ecologia e Restauração Florestal (LERF) is a university research laboratory embedded within ESALQ/USP (Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz) in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil. Founded with its Permanent Plots Project in 2002, LERF conducts scientific research, extension activities, and education on the composition, structure, and functioning of Brazilian forests, with particular specialization in Atlantic Forest restoration. The lab maintains 40.96 hectares of permanent monitoring plots across four Conservation Units representing São Paulo's main forest formations, a TreeCo neotropical plant community database, and a Native Tree Matrix database covering approximately 2,000 native species across 6 ecological regions. Its core products include the Environmental Adequacy Program, which provides environmental diagnostics and restoration planning to agricultural producers, government agencies, and companies, alongside scientific publications, training courses, and graduate-level teaching.

LERF's technology stack integrates field-based ecological methods (permanent plots, forest inventories, floristic surveys) with remote sensing (satellite imagery, Lidar, hyperspectral sensors, drones) and GIS for landscape-scale forest assessment. The lab is led by Professor Titular Ricardo R. Rodrigues and includes a core team of professors, technicians, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students, supported by a network of over 100 alumni working across Brazil's restoration sector. The lab is primarily funded through competitive research grants from FAPESP, FINEP, EU Horizon 2020, the World Bank, and CAPES/CNPq, with operational project execution supported by a strategic partnership with Bioflora (NBL Engenharia Ambiental). LERF does not operate as a commercial entity; it functions as an academic research institution whose outputs are scientific knowledge, trained professionals, and environmental compliance services delivered through institutional partnerships.

Name

Laboratório de Ecologia e Restauração Florestal

Legal name

Laboratório de Ecologia e Restauração Florestal

Website

https://lerf.eco.br

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

LERF is an academic research laboratory at ESALQ/USP in Piracicaba, Brazil, specializing in Atlantic Forest ecology and restoration. It conducts permanent plot monitoring, maintains neotropical plant databases, and delivers environmental diagnostics and restoration planning to agricultural producers, government agencies, and NGOs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Ecological Restoration Services

NAICS

Support Activities for Forestry (1153), Environmental Consulting Services (54162), Testing Laboratories and Services (54138), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690)

SIC

Forestry (800), Services-Testing Laboratories (8734), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Monitoring, Survival Surveys & Carbon/MRV Services (Remote Sensing, Field Audits) (AFAMACAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Biodiversity Baseline Studies & Long-Term Monitoring Programs (EUAHAHAE), Carbon Accounting, Verification & Registry Services (MRV, Audits, Certification) (IMAMAJAE), Smallholder/Community Forest Group Certification (SLIMF) Support (AFAMALAG), Forestry & Reforestation (BPAGAGAD)

Keywords

• Forest ecology research
• Ecological restoration services
• Tropical forest monitoring
• Environmental compliance consulting
• Native species restoration

Headquarters

HQ city

Piracicaba

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Research Grants and Funding: LERF is primarily funded through competitive research grants from FAPESP (São Paulo State Research Foundation), FINEP (Studies and Projects Financing), Re.Green, European Union's Horizon 2020, and CAPES/CNPq for scholarships. Additional funding comes from environmental compliance projects with private companies and government agencies through the Environmental Adequacy Program.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

LERF is a university research laboratory at ESALQ/USP that conducts scientific research on the composition, structure, and functioning of Brazilian forests, with emphasis on Atlantic Forest restoration methodologies and long-term forest dynamics monitoring. It delivers environmental diagnostics, restoration planning, floristic surveys, matrix tree marking, and technical training to rural property owners, government agencies, NGOs, and private companies seeking compliance with Brazilian environmental legislation through the Environmental Adequacy Program. The lab also builds and curates scientific databases (TreeCo, Native Tree Matrices) and publishes peer-reviewed research, theses, and technical manuals.

Product overview

LERF (Laboratório de Ecologia e Restauração Florestal) is a research laboratory at ESALQ/USP that functions as a research and extension institution rather than a product company. Its offerings consist of scientific research services, educational programs, and environmental consulting. The core offerings include: the Permanent Plot Project for long-term forest monitoring (40 hectares across four conservation units), the Environmental and Agricultural Compliance Program for rural property certification, the Native Tree Matrix Project for regionalized seed production, and scientific publications including articles, theses, and technical manuals. Additional services include lectures, educational materials, and internship opportunities for students.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Permanent Plot Project (Projeto Parcelas Permanentes)
• Environmental and Agricultural Adequacy Program (Programa de Adequação Ambiental e Agrícola)
• Native Tree Matrix Project (Projeto Matrizes)
• NewFor Research Project
• TreeCo Database (Neotropical Plant Community Database)
• Lectures and Courses (Palestras e Aulas)
• Internship Program (Programa de Estágios)

Quantifiable outcome

• ~10,000 hectares of forests restored, 92,000 hectares of fragments protected, and ~4,050,000 hectares diagnosed across 50+ partner institutions
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Bioflora (NBL Engenharia Ambiental)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBioflora is a key operational partner for implementing forest restoration projects. The company has worked with LERF on the Environmental Adequacy Program, the Sussundenga project in Mozambique, and the Taboca Mining restoration project. Bioflora provides technical execution capacity for restoration implantation while LERF provides scientific methodology and oversight.
• Eco-MICAIAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEco-MICAIA partnered with Bioflora and LERF for the Sussundenga district mapping project in Mozambique, bringing expertise in community surveys, forest restoration, and monitoring acquired over 10 years of work in the Chimanimani National Reserve area.
• Wageningen University & Research (WUR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWUR is a key international academic partner in the NewFor project, collaborating with LERF researchers Prof. P.H.S. Brancalion, Prof. F. Bongers, and Prof. L. Poorter. The partnership focuses on understanding restored Atlantic Forest dynamics and developing restoration methodologies.
• GEO-TREEScoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe GEO-TREES international project combines field data and remote sensors for monitoring tropical forest biomass. LERF contributes permanent plot data and analysis as part of this global forest monitoring initiative.
• CCarbon (Brazilian Carbon Research Center)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLERF is affiliated with the CCarbon research center. The Countdown_BR project on vegetation carbon stocks is explicitly mentioned as being linked to CCarbon, and LERF staff positions are based at LERF which is part of CCarbon.
• Instituto Florestal de São PaulocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Permanent Parcels Project operates within four Conservation Units managed by São Paulo's Forest Institute (Parque Estadual da Ilha do Cardoso, Parque Estadual de Carlos Botelho, Estação Ecológica dos Caetetus, and Estação Ecológica de Assis). The institute provides institutional access and management of these sites.
• The Nature Conservancy (TNC)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTNC partnered with LERF through the Environmental Adequacy Program for restoration projects in the São Lourenço river basin (MT), Lucas do Rio Verde (MT), and Santarém (PA), bringing international conservation expertise and funding to restoration initiatives.
• Comitê Gestor das Bacias Hidrográficas dos rios Turvo e GrandemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Basin Committee for the Turvo and Grande rivers participates interactively in defining prioritization variables and weights for restoration area selection, and validates the proposed corridors and action plans, in the water source protection project for UGRHI 15.
• PACTO - Pela Restauração da Mata AtlânticamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPACTO is a large-scale Atlantic Forest restoration initiative referenced on LERF's website. LERF researchers including Pedro H.S. Brancalion contributed to developing PACTO's framework for organizing and scaling restoration across the Atlantic Forest biome.
• ESALQ/USP (Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLERF is fully embedded within ESALQ/USP, which provides institutional infrastructure, academic programs, administrative support, and the research campus. ESALQ is the host institution and primary institutional affiliation for all LERF activities.
• SER - Society for Ecological RestorationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Society for Ecological Restoration is referenced as a related organization on LERF's website, representing the international professional community for ecological restoration science and practice.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Lastrop (Laboratório de Silvicultura Tropical): LERF's sister laboratory at ESALQ/USP specializing in tropical silviculture and native species production; directly comparable as an adjacent academic forest research unit within the same institution.
• INPA (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia): Brazilian federal research institute dedicated to Amazon forest research including ecology and forestry; comparable as a publicly funded tropical forest research laboratory with long-term monitoring programs.
• Tropical Flora: Brazilian reforestation company linked on LERF's site; comparable as a commercial provider of native species seedlings and restoration services in tropical Brazilian ecosystems.
• Bioflora (NBL Engenharia Ambiental): LERF's primary operational partner for implementing forest restoration projects using LERF-designed methodologies; comparable as a restoration services firm operating in São Paulo's Atlantic Forest biome.

Broad incumbents

• Conservation International Brasil: International NGO with active forest restoration projects in Brazil partnering with LERF; comparable as a conservation-driven restoration program operator.
• Embrapa (Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária): Brazil's primary federal agricultural and forestry research corporation; comparable as a large publicly funded research organization working on forestry, restoration, and silviculture across all Brazilian biomes.
• Wageningen University & Research (WUR): LERF's primary international academic partner in the NewFor project; comparable as a globally recognized research institution working on tropical forest restoration and silviculture.
• The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Brasil: International conservation organization partnering with LERF on river basin restoration; comparable as a large-scale conservation and restoration program operator in Brazil.

Others

• Society for Ecological Restoration (SER): International professional association for ecological restoration science and practice; comparable as the governing professional body for LERF's research domain.

Emerging players

• PACTO - Pela Restauração da Mata Atlântica: Large-scale Atlantic Forest restoration initiative that LERF researchers helped develop; comparable as a multi-stakeholder restoration platform operating in the same biome.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCR3LdTRAFESDWcTCA6wFAVg
• Instagraminstagram.com/projeto_newfor

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Laboratório de Ecologia e Restauração Florestal