The UPSHOT - organization Instituto Terra's efforts on behalf of Atlantic Forest in Brazil - Brief Article

GoodLetter, Feb 21, 2002

If you had all the tools in the world at your disposal to do something profound for your hometown, what would it be? Brazilian photographer Sebastio Salgado -- renowned throughout the world for his powerful, humanizing images of suffering people and places across the planet -- decided to dedicate much of his life savings to breaking the cycle of poverty near the place he grew up in coastal Brazil. In the process, he wanted to create a program of local economic self-reliance and education that would not only stop but reverse the trend of deforestation of Brazil's dwindling Atlantic Forest. While the eyes of the world have focused saving the Amazon rainforest, the Atlantic Forest has been reduced to only 7% of its original size -- an area of overwhelming biodiversity twice the size of Texas.

Salgado and his wife Lelia Wanick Salgado formed the non-profit Instituto Terra in 1998 and began the long, hard struggle to return the Atlantic Forest to some semblance of its former glory. Ongoing projects at Bulcao Farm in southeastern Brazil are providing local people with on-the-job skills in ecology and sustainable agriculture. With the guidance of Instituto Terra, they're understanding what has been lost and all that can be gained.

Get details about Instituto Terra's projects on Bulcao Farm: http://www.institutoterra.org/

Learn about Sebastio and Lelia Wanick Salgado and their photographic exhibit, Migrations: Humanity in Transition (1993-1999): http://www.terra.com.br/sebastiaosalgado/ http://www.terra.com.br/sebastiaosalgado/e1/e_howtohelp.html

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