Lélia and Sebastião established Instituto Terra
Lélia Wanick Salgado is a Brazilian author, film producer and environmentalist. Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado Júnior is a Brazilian social
documentary photographer and photojournalist who has traveled across the world for his photographic projects and is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
Together Lélia and Sebastião direct the Amazonas Images Agency and established the Instituto Terra to reforest a rainforest.
Lélia and Sebastião created the Instituto Terra (Land Institue), a small organization on a mission to plant millions of trees to restore the lush forest that was once there. Within 20 years and with the help of their supportive members, they reforested the rainforest with 4 million saplings, 2.7 million of which grew into trees.
The rainforest has been restored within 20 years.
The Planet's Lungs
Climate regulation is an important role that trees and plants play on the planet. Plants and trees are the lungs of the planet, absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) and releasing oxygen.Rebuilding the Forest
After returning from documenting the genocide in Rwanda, Sebastião returned to Brazil emotionally and physically unwell. Upon his return, the rainforest back home was significantly decimated. “Only about 0.5% of the land was covered in trees” (Salgado). Lélia shared the idea of reforestation with Sebastião to help solve the deforestation.Lélia and Sebastião created the Instituto Terra (Land Institue), a small organization on a mission to plant millions of trees to restore the lush forest that was once there. Within 20 years and with the help of their supportive members, they reforested the rainforest with 4 million saplings, 2.7 million of which grew into trees.
The rainforest has been restored within 20 years.