Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact

Built World

As of May 2026: Active, UN World Restoration Flagship with $10B investment mobilization toward 15M hectare goal by 2050

In 1998, photographer Sebastião Salgado returned from documenting the Rwandan genocide to find his family's Brazilian cattle ranch stripped bare—just 0.5% of its original Atlantic Forest remained. His wife Lélia proposed something audacious: rebuild the entire ecosystem from scratch. By mid-2025, Instituto Terra had planted over 7 million trees from 293 native species, restored 2,068 springs, and transformed 1,700 acres of eroded pastureland into a forest dense enough to see from space.

Updated May 20