A couple planted trees for 18 years and the result was surprising

It is a story of love. But not only love between two people, it's the love of life, nature, other humans who inhabit this planet, animals and more. A couple of Brazilians met 20 years ago before a depressing panorama, in which they saw their forest completely deserted and decided to hand over the planting of native trees. Today, it is very different: the green appears from all sides, you hear the songs of birds, new species were present and there is a climate of harmony and happiness.

Sebastião Salgado and Lelia Deluiz are the protagonists of this beautiful story, which brought back the joy and colors in the forest of the municipality of Aimores, Minas Gerais, Brazil. "The land was as sick as me … everything was destroyed.Only 0.5% of the area still had trees," said the man, who explained that in 1998, the area was deforested, that the soil was affected by drought and erosion, resulting from a disordered use of natural resources obtained from the farmers who worked there. feed the cattle. With his wife, he settles in Hacienda Bulcão, located in the rural environment of the forest, and begins to reforest it together.

"My wife had the fabulous idea of ​​replanting the forest and we started doing it," she said. The couple raised funds to create its environmental organization, the Instituto de la Tierra, and began planting only native trees and plants, so as not to harm the ecosystem of the country. origin of the place.

"There's only one being that turns CO2 into oxygen, and that's the tree. You have to replant the forests with native trees and harvest the seeds in the same region where you will plant them, otherwise some animals will not come and wildlife will not reach them, "said the photographer.

The first year, they had already managed to plant the entire land. However, they have not only reforested this area. With the help of 22 members, they have made it their mission to do so in all the destroyed forests in their space and the surrounding areas. To date, they have planted more than four million trees, which has surprisingly changed the image of this arid forest from two decades ago. "The insects, the birds and the fish came back and, thanks to the increase in the number of trees, I also reborn, it was a very important moment," Salgado was moved.

The couple counted that 172 species of birds have returned, 33 from mammals, 15 from reptiles and 15 from other amphibians, not to mention the some 300 species of plants. "You have to listen to the people of the earth, nature is the Earth and its beings, and if we do not spiritually return to the planet, it will be compromised," Sebastião said.

Source: The Mañana de Neuquén