Gisele Goes Green to Support the Atlantic Forest with Ipanema Sandals

October 3, 2008 by Luba

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen has launched an Ipanema 2009 Sandal Collection in support of the Atlantic forest. The Brazilian beauty with an even more beautiful heart has teamed up with Grendene, which is the mother company of Ipanema, to develop a special project with SOS Mata Atlântica. SOS Mata Atlântica is a program that supports the gallery forest which is the vegetation surrounding the rivers and streams and which also helps in the protection of water. Each Ipanema sandal sold will help to plant 25, 500 saplings from the 100 different species of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Sadly, only 10 percent of the Atlantic Forest remains as more than two dozen Critically Endangered vertebrate species are barely surviving. The Atlantic Forest or Mata Atlântica stretches along Brazil’s Atlantic coast, from Rio Grande do Norte to Rio Grande do Sul. It has an extremely diverse and unique mix of vegetation, forest types and bird and animal species, including the red-billed curassow, the Brazilian merganser, and the southern muriqui (pictured left) which is one of the most threatened primates in the region. You can visit here for more detail on the unique biodiversity which is greatly endangered.