“I want to open people’s eyes to this paradise on earth”

Sebastião Salgado is known for his powerful black-and-white images that often shine the spotlight on social and ecological issues. His current series of concerts, entitled “Amazônia”, combines photographs from the Amazon region with works by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. The aim of the project is not only to highlight the unspoilt beauty of the rainforest but also to draw attention to its ongoing destruction. Besides working as a photographer, Salgado has been committed for many years to protecting the environment. In 1998, he and his wife established the “Instituto Terra”, a reforestation project in Brazil. Deutschland.de met Salgado in Frankfurt am Main, where “Amazônia” was being staged.

Mr Salgado, in your “Amazônia” series of concerts you combine your pictures of the rainforest with music composed by Villa-Lobos. How well do the music and the photographs complement one another?

It was important to me to select photographs that would go well with the music. So I listened to the musical sequences at least 500 times and thought about which photographs I would show in which sections. During the first part of the performance the music is loud and powerful, so I opted to use my aerial shots of the Amazonthere. At other times the music is quiet and mellifluous, so I showed pictures of indigenous women and children during those sections. The idea is for the music and the photography to harmonise.

What message do you want the concert to convey?

Around 18 percent of the Amazon rainforest has already been destroyed. 82 percent is still intact, however. I want the concert to open people’s eyes to this paradise on earth. I want to show them the beauty there that is worth preserving. Audiences should also understand that we are all responsible for destroying the rainforest. After all, the forest is being cut down to produce the soybeans that are eaten by pigs and cattle around the world, including in Europe. Because of our consumption habits, we are all destroying the Amazon. And that’s why we can only save it by working together.

Germany and Brazil have agreed to cooperate closely on environmental protection and climate action. How important is international cooperation in this area?

The German government is very actively committed to the Amazon. Alongside Norway, it is one of the biggest donors to the Amazon Fund for the protection of the rainforest. Our “Instituto Terra” project is also being financed by Germany via the promotional bank KfW. Thanks to this support, we have been able to regenerate the rainforest that had been cleared on my family’s land in Minas Gerais. Trees are incredibly important for our planet. Not only do they store carbon dioxide, they are also huge repositories of water that keep moisture in the ground and thus help create underground wells and rain. To date, our reforestation project has enabled us to restore around 2,000 underground wells. The subtropical rainforest has returned to the region, fresh water is flowing and formerly indigenous species of animal have resettled there.

What are your next goals with Instituto Terra?

If we want to restore the planet, we will need to continue planting trees. And we will also have to do so on agricultural land. If we ignore farmers in the process, we will never be successful. We must involve farmers in decision-making and respect them. My son is planning a project in which we will work together with thousands of farmers to renew the rainforest across the entire region. We want to completely redesign the agricultural sector in the region and establish a form of agriculture and cattle farmingthat will take place in the shade of the trees. This will enable us to generate more water and bring the rain back to this otherwise very parched region. To this end, we are working with KfW on a new project that involves not only Instituto Terra but also thousands of farmers in our valley - and our valley is the size of Portugal.

What gives you reason to hope despite the environmental destruction happening worldwide?

Instituto Terra has already planted more than three million trees, and we will not stop. My great hope is that we will be able to restore the rainforest in our region together. Unfortunately the global situation does not look good, however. People are setting fire to forests in the Amazon, in New Guinea, in Indonesia. We are destroying nature everywhere. Yet we need nature and we need trees. I hope that people will one day understand that we have to stop destroying our planet.