Founder's Statement
When I was 17, I was living with the Canela tribe in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. They had adopted me. The mangrove and the large trees were my habitat, the Tamarins my neighbors. The sky was nearly invisible through the foliage.
Today, I live in Honfleur, Normandy, but the sap of the Brazilian forest still runs thick in my veins.
I would like for my three girls to be able to get to know this forest and explore its roots with their own hands, feeling that it is actually something real and not something of mere legend. I would like children to be able to learn in school that forests are living ecosystems of the Earth, all belonging to the same system. This system serves as a regulator of the environment to maintain the equilibrium of our planet and conditions favorable to life. I do not want to see these tropical trees uprooted. Future generations should be able to benefit from this marvel of nature.
The Mata Atlantica forest is one of the richest forests in terms of biodiversity, but also one of the most threatened. It used to cover an area of more than 1,360,000 km2. Today in Brazil, only 7% of this area remains intact.
The Mata Atlantica, as everyone can see, is in peril. It is up to us to save the local populations and assist them in finding alternative, non-destructive ways to sustain themselves. Our ambition is to fight for an outcome that is not written in stone. The destruction of the forest is not irreversible. Numerous efforts are already in motion. The Anne Fontaine Foundation aims to help save the Atlantic forest.
