In the Amazon, Sebastião Salgado looked on, frightened, as mankind sawed off the branch of life. “My pictures let nature talk to me,” he says. Back in his country after 11 years of absence, the Brazilian photographer discovered how his country had changed in the meantime. This slideshow, a tribute to his work in the Amazon forest and the communities who live there together in harmony, is taken from his project Genesis, produced in partnership with Paris Match.
In our issue that hit stands in May 21st, Salgado chose two pictures to be included in the second part of our series L’appel de la Terre.
For 55 million years, only rivers could trace their way through the Amazon. Seen from above, the 30 billion trees, covering a surface 10 times the size of France, seem to form an impregnable fortress. And yet, the Amazon has already lost 20% of its territory. It could be half its size by 2030. However, the rainforests are our planet’s richest ecosystem. They are home to two-thirds of the planet’s living species. From flax to rubber and medicine, its biodiversity is the basis of over 5,000 products. According to the UN, it’s more profitable to preserve the trees than to destroy them. The project “Plant for the Planet” aims to reintroduce 20 billion trees worldwide.
According to Rod Taylor, director of the WWF’s Forest Program, by 2030, a forest the size of Germany, Spain, France and Portugal will have disappeared.
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