Center For Environmental Education and Restoration - CERA

From the moment they founded the Instituto Terra, Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado and Sebastião Salgado, saw the institute as serving as a beacon to awaken environmental awareness of the need to restore and conserve forest land. Recognizing education and research as key components of this strategy, on February 19, 2002, the Instituto Terra created the Center for Environmental Education and Restoration (CERA).

Its mission is to contribute to the process of environmental restoration and to the sustainable development of the Atlantic Forest, with special emphasis on the Basin of the River Doce. Through CERA, new technologies are shared, throwing fresh light on existing models of development. The ultimate aim is to engage new participants in the battle to achieve sustainable development.

By December 2012, over 700 educational projects had been developed, embracing 65,000 people in more than 170 municipalities of the Valley of the River Doce, covering both the states of Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais. Some projects have reached as far as the states of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro.

The strategy of CERA is to approach individuals in positions to play key roles in local and regional environmental restoration and conservation: professors and instructors in technical, agricultural and forestry schools; teachers in elementary and high schools; town mayors, environmental secretaries, political leaders and, most importantly, the rural producers of the region.

Center of Studies in Ecosystem Restoration

Inaugurated in August 2004, the Center of Studies in Ecosystem Restoration was created to provide post-technical, theoretical and practical training to agricultural, environmental and forestry specialists. The objective of the Center is to become a benchmark in the qualification of professionals who can be effective in the recovery of devastated areas and in environmental restoration and appraisal. They should also be trained in the sustainable use of natural resources and in alternative techniques for the production, administration and management of rural properties.

Construction of a student residence and acquisition of necessary equipment were made possible by Philips of Brazil and the Florindon Foundation in Switzerland. The research for developing the curriculum was financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Functioning essentially as a boarding school providing professional training, the Center of Studies in Ecosystem Restoration offers ten scholarships each year. The students are lodged, fed and clothed and receive a monthly allowance. The training in agricultural techniques designed to restore and preserve the Atlantic Forest is aimed at a very specific public: the farmers of the central region of the Valley of the River Doce as well as businesses and the Government. In this way, the Instituto Terra aspires to use its experience of reforesting Bulcão Farm to encourage adoption of models of sustainable agriculture in the region.