The couple spent 20 years replanting trees in damaged forest

Sebastião Salgado returned to his home in Brazil in 1994 after living abroad for many years.

Working as a photographer, Salgado recently captured the gruesome experience of the Rwandan genocide. After completing his assignment, he hopes to find comfort in his hometown filled with green forests.

But unfortunately, when he returned to Minas Gerais, Brazil, Salgado actually found that his parents' forest had dried up and died due to uncontrolled deforestation and exploitation.

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Salgado and his wife, Leila Deluiz Wanick, acquired the land and decided to do something for her. For 20 years, they replanted trees in the forest.

“The forest is very sick. Everything was broken by then. Only about 0.5% of the land is covered by trees, ”Salgado told The Guardian.

In 1998, the couple founded Instituto Terra with the aim of restoring 17 thousand acres of land back to its natural state. Furthermore, the organization they developed recruited partners and volunteers. For starters, Instituto Terra was planting four million saplings at the time.

By taking care of these young plants, Salgado and his team succeeded in restoring the forest in 20 years.

“My wife has an amazing idea to restore this forest. We started slowly, then the insects, birds and fish started coming back. It was like being reborn, ”he explained.


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