Anita Studer

Anita Studer is a conservationist and the founder of Nordesta Reforestation and Education, a Swiss non-governmental organization. Her campaign to save a rare, Brazilian blackbird (Curaeus forbesi), in its local habitat, the Pedra Talhada forest, part of the Atlantic Forest, resulted in the area receiving official protection as the Federal Biological Reserve of Pedra Talhada. Through her work, more than 6 million trees have been planted, schools have been constructed, and training programs for the local population have been implemented in Brazil.

A Swiss citizen, Anita was made Knight of the French Legion of Honour in 2009. Her initiatives in Brazil were also the subject of a 1996 documentary “Mother Forest and the Street Children” on the Discovery Channel. In addition, she received a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 1990 for her environmental work and a species of frog – Dendropsophus studerae – was named in her honor.