Terra Institute is the story of how a photographer and a writer regenerated a portion of the Amazon rainforest. The former is Sebastião Salgado, one of the greatest photojournalists of all times. The latter is Lélia Wanick Salgado, writer and producer. They are husband and wife and together created a foundation for the reforestation of Amazonia. In twenty years they planted 2.7 million trees. This allowed for the return of 172 species of birds, 33 mammals, 15 amphibians, 15 reptiles and 293 wild plants.
In the Nineties, Sebastião Salgado went to Rwanda to document the genocide that was devastating the African country. It was such a traumatic experience that the Brazilian photojournalist decided to retire with his wife to their homeland. The two believed they would have found the lush forest of their childhood. Instead, before their eyes came a deserted, sick territory, devoid of any form of life. The few remaining trees covered only the 0.5% of the soil. The cause of such environmental disaster wasn’t some cataclysm. It was mankind. Year after year, the Amazon rainforest is shrinking more and more, due to the deforestation practiced for economic and commercial purposes. Responsible for this was also Salgado’s father, who had cut down the trees on his property to sell wood and plant fodder.
The Salgados decided that they would do their part to repair the damage. In 1998 they founded the non-profit organisation Terra Institute and transformed Salgado’s property into a natural reserve. They then began reforestation, involving the whole local community. The first trees were planted by local students. In this way, the organization manages not only to safeguard the Amazon ecosystem, but also to promote environmental education among the population.
