‘I think, boy, I’m a part of all this’: how local heroes reforested Rio’s green heart

Photographs taken years apart show how reforestation has transformed Morro Do Urubu, an area in the north of Rio de Janeiro: left, virtually treeless in 1990; right, abundant tree cover in 2019. Composite: Angela Meurer & Plinio Senna

From his vantage point at the top of the hill where he grew up, Luiz Alberto Nunes dos Santos gazes down at the city below. White apartment blocks are nestled among mountains covered with luxuriant vegetation. The statue of Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain appear through gaps in the trees. The sea is just about visible in the distance.

Rio de Janeiro’s striking blend of urban infrastructure and tropical jungle, cradled between granite peaks and the sea, earned the city Unesco world heritage status in 2012. Yet few people realise that the verdant forests cloaking Rio’s dramatic hills are largely the result of human intervention.