In the 1990s, Brazilian photojournalist Sebastian Salgado had just returned from East Africa, where he documented the Rwandan genocide. Salgado's work had traumatized him, both physically and psychologically. Not surprisingly, he witnessed with his own eyes the total brutality. After that, he lost faith in humanity altogether. He became depressed and lost his passion for photography.
Returning to his native land in Minas Gerais, Brazil, one of the main characters in this story expected to see the lush, living rain forest that he had remembered from his childhood.
Except he didn't see any of the above. Instead the man was devastated to find that almost all the trees had been cut down, and wildlife was out of the question, it had all but disappeared from those lands. According to Sebastian, about 0.5 percent of the land had trees growing then.
That's when his wife realized that the memories from her husband's childhood were in the past. For now the place looked more like a lifeless desert. She had an ambitious idea, which at first glance may seem fantastic - she proposed to re-grow the forest...
And what do you think? Although it took two decades, they still managed to realize a seemingly impossible project. The couple founded the "Earth Institute," which aims to restore and preserve the unique plants of Brazil's forests. Over the years, more than 2.5 million tree species were planted on more than 1,750 acres. Eventually, the region was restored to climate and water balance. And these lands were given to the people of Brazil, where the national park is now located.
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