By Juliano Salgado, president of Instituto Terra
Originally published in the Annual Report 2024
2024 was a year that tested our ability to adapt. In the face of extreme weather events in Brazil and around the world, Instituto Terra has reaffirmed its commitment to ecological restoration, the regeneration of the countryside and the transformation of agricultural practices. In this open letter, Juliano Salgado shares a forceful analysis of the current scenario and the strategic role the Institute has taken on in response to the crisis.
Letter from the President
If there was any room for doubt, this year’s events have highlighted the urgent need to transform our models of production and coexistence with nature. For the first time in history, the world has recorded record temperatures, 1.63°C above the pre-industrial average. In Brazil, the scenario was dramatic: on the one hand, devastating floods in Rio Grande do Sul, on the other the worst drought in history in the Amazon, and more than 5 million hectares lost to fire in just seven months. In the Rio Doce Valley, where we operate, the extreme drought has compromised economic activities and hit rural communities hard.
If the violence of the worsening climate came as a surprise, the trend had already been underway for several years. That’s why Instituto Terra has been preparing itself for some time to grow in a way that allows us to play a leading role in this new scenario – proposing paths towards resilience and the essential transformation of the practices and values of our agricultural society.
With the support of the Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich), we acquired two new properties bordering our historic RPPN – the Maria Bonita and Vai e Vem farms and, with a generous private donation, the Sítio Constância – expanding our preservation area from 710 to 2,340 hectares. These farms are in addition to Cantinho do Céu, acquired in 2023, also with the support of Zurich. This expansion gives us the opportunity to continue improving our high biodiversity forest restoration techniques and strengthen the role of our forest as a living reference for the world.
In partnership with Zurich, we also launched the construction of a new native seedling nursery. Started in November, the work will give rise to a structure with the capacity to grow up to 2 million native tree seedlings a year, allowing us to meet the growing demand for large-scale environmental restoration – especially in the context of the Terra Doce program, which took on a new dimension in 2024.
Today, the Terra Doce program represents a systemic proposal to reverse centuries of environmental degradation in the Rio Doce valley and transform the socio-economic and environmental base of the region. This transformation takes place through the conversion of pastures and monocultures into sustainable, high-productivity agricultural models; the opening up of markets for higher value-added products; and the strengthening of environmental education and local cultural production. In this way, we are not only adapting the daily practices of the Rio Doce’s agricultural society so that it can survive climate change, but we are also generating wealth that will irrigate the whole of society, starting with the poorest populations. We believe that this generation of wealth through ecological agricultural adaptation will be the great driving force behind the transformation of the Doce River and will make Terra Doce an example to be followed for Brazilian agriculture in water-scarce regions.
In 2024, we strengthened the network of partners that will make this program possible on a larger scale. We already have the support of German Cooperation through KfW and WWF Brazil in the current phase of Terra Doce. The Dom Cabral Foundation is supporting us in modeling market strategies that will give the initiative long-term viability. And the partners from CIAAT and Plural Cooperativa bring in-depth experience in the field of sustainable rural development, helping Terra Doce’s impact to expand and reach more producer families. In addition, the support of the G20 in organizing spaces to present our methodology internationally and our long-standing partnership with Zurich – which today also represents advances in Instituto Terra’s infrastructure and productivity – complete this strategic alliance for the benefit of our region.
This expansion of impact also involves education. This year, we resumed in full force the Terrinhas program, aimed at children’s environmental education, which welcomed 550 children, as well as teachers and school principals. And we launched the new Terra Jovens program, with themed workshops aimed at young people aged 16 to 29, who promote reflection on the major challenges of today and stimulate action in their communities, using audiovisuals as a tool for expressing the issues that touch them most.
We end this year with the conviction that Instituto Terra is stronger, better prepared and more necessary than ever. We channel the great demands of our time and grow with responsibility, coherence and a long-term vision. We will continue together, restoring the land and cultivating futures.