Bulcão Farm today. Photo: Reproduction/Instituto Terra Collection

In Aimorés, in eastern Minas Gerais state, the famous Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado and his architect and environmentalist wife Lélia Salgado have reforested an area of over 600 hectares. The amazing thing is that the devastated land on which not even pasture would grow became dense Atlantic Forest in little more than 20 years of work.

Bulcão Farm was recognized as a Natural Heritage Private Reserve (RPPN) and the couple founded the NGO Instituto Terra on the site, which focuses on environmental restoration and sustainable rural development in the Vale do Rio Doce region. With a population of 1.7 million, the region contains the basin of the Doce River, which stretches over 83 kilometers. Despite this natural heritage, the population suffers from the results of deforestation, such as soil erosion and water scarcity.