Photographer And His Wife Plant 2 Million Trees In 20 Years To Restore A Destroyed Forest And Even The Animals Have Returned
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization , 129 million hectares of forest, an area almost equivalent in size to South Africa, have been lost from the Earth forever since 1990. An area roughly the size of the country of Panama is being lost each and every year.
With some 15 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation, and countless species of plants and animals losing their habitats every single day, these are absolutely devastating figures for the health of our planet, and it simply cannot be allowed to continue.
(Image credits: Ricaro Beliel)
But what to do in the face of such massive environmental carnage? It can make the individual feel small and helpless, as we ponder the impact that we can actually make. Will anything that we do make the slightest bit of difference? Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado and his wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado decided to show what a small group of passionate, dedicated people can do by turning deforestation on its head, and begin the process of reforestation.
( Image credits: Sebastiao Salgado )
Because really, Mother Nature is a hardy soul that will always find a way to bounce back, given the right conditions. Salgado is a renowned figure, having won nearly every major award in photojournalism and publishing more than a half-dozen books. Back in the 1990s, exhausted physically and emotionally after documenting the horrific barbarity of the Rwandan genocide, he returned home to his native area of Brazil, which was once covered in lush tropical rainforest. He was shocked and devastated to find that the area was now barren and devoid of wildlife, but his wife Lélia believed that it could be restored to its former glory.
( Image credits: institutoterra )
“The land was as sick as I was – everything was destroyed,” Salgado said in The Guardian back in 2015. “Only about 0.5% of the land was covered in trees. Then my wife had a fabulous idea to replant this forest. And when we began to do that, then all the insects and birds and fish returned and, thanks to this increase of the trees I, too, was reborn – this was the most important moment.”
( Image credits: institutoterra )
Together, Sebastião and Lélia founded Instituto Terra , a small organization that has since planted 4 million saplings and has brought the forest back from the dead. “Perhaps we have a solution,” Salgado said. “There is a single being which can transform CO2 to oxygen, which is the tree. We need to replant the forest. You need forest with native trees, and you need to gather the seeds in the same region you plant them or the serpents and the termites won’t come. And if you plant forests that don’t belong, the animals don’t come there and the forest is silent.”
( Image credits: institutoterra )
And so, after taking utmost care to ensure that everything planted is native to the land, the area has flourished remarkably in the ensuing 20 years. Wildlife has returned, where there was a deathly silence there is now a cacophony of birdcalls and insects buzzing around.
( Image credits: institutoterra )
In all, some 172 bird species have returned, as well as 33 species of mammals, 293 species of plants, 15 species of reptiles and 15 species of amphibians, an entire ecosystem rebuilt from scratch.
( Image credits: institutoterra )
( Image credits: Sebastião Salgado )
The project has inspired millions by giving a concrete example of positive ecological action and showing how quickly the environment can recover with the right attitudes.
( Image credits: Weverson Rocio )
( Image credits: Sebastião Salgado )
“We need to listen to the words of the people on the land,” Salgado explained. “Nature is the earth and it is other beings and if we don’t have some kind of spiritual return to our planet, I fear that we will be compromised.”
( Image credits: YASUYOSHI CHIBA )
By Ilona
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One couple can have this much of an impact.
There is endangered plants and animals that returned to this new oasis.
There are even some orchids growing.
Beautiful. I take a bow to what these two have done.
It's a good thing they are doing, I have been involved in similar projects here in Colorado doing restoration.
Sadly, clearing of the forests is still going on with no end in sight.
Wow, this is great! I'd love to see more people doing this.
Wow....this guy is an inspiration! Look at what he's accomplished. Thanks for seeding this, Ender
What a legacy this couple will be leaving...
Kudos to them.
A wonderful and informative video...
Outstanding article, Ender. Thanks.
They have said that even rainfall increased in the area and once dried up springs have come back to life.
Absolutely amazing.
Water and the farmers cows are giving milk when the farmers didn't know that they could produce milk...
It's simply amazing.
We need to do this all over.
I read about what this guy was doing a couple years ago. Very cool
It is amazing how Mother Earth responds to a bit of TLC from the givers after the takers have ravaged her and turned away.
It was indeed a lot of hard work to make their dream come true, but, the efforts are worth it. The area is once again as beautiful land, and a gift to the animals and birds who can once again call it 'home'.
Hopefully with the institute they created, the area will be preserved for generations to come.
I hope so too. And I hope that those who trashed the area in the beginning won't do the same again once it has fully recovered. The greedy only know what puts money in their pockets, and the earth be damned.
Where did the water come from? They don't seem to say how they restored that but they make clear that it's essential.
It doesn't specify. It did say rainfall increased, maybe that has something to do with it.
Yeah, I saw that and that's a great side effect of the planting. But it's a chicken and egg deal. You need water to make the trees grow in the first place. Just curious how they managed that.