"We need nature to survive. Nature does not need us." It is with these words that internationally acclaimed photographer Ami Vitale presented her work as the lead photographer of Good to Earth, the 2019 Lavazza calendar dedicated to the care and protection that we, as humanity, owe to the Planet. A project that took her to six countries around the world alongside six artists — the other protagonists behind the calendar — with the aim of telling positive, successful stories of conservation and safeguarding of the Planet that all too often go untold.

January – Artist Saype's work covers an area of 8,000 square metres and portrays a local girl, Maria Paula. It symbolises the need to care for the land and the planet for future generations © Ami Vitale/Calendario Lavazza 2019

February – After years of armed conflict and the spread of illegal plantations in Colombia, crops have begun to flourish again thanks to a project by the Fondazione Giuseppe e Pericle Lavazza, which has enabled the planting of coffee and other trees and has supported the development of sustainable farms, training local communities in new agricultural techniques and providing access to the internet © Ami Vitale/calendario Lavazza 2019 Lavazza

March – Mvuvi wa mikoko is an acrylic painting on gessoed canvas measuring 5 metres by 3, completed in three days and then mounted on a raft anchored to the mangroves. The subject of the canvas is a kingfisher, a bird that plays a key role in maintaining the ecosystem, which Mantra depicts among the mangroves © Ami Vitale/calendario Lavazza 2019

April – In Gazi, the organisation Mikoko Pamoja plants 4,000 new mangrove plants, which protect coastal communities from floods and tsunamis and act as a natural CO2 store, reducing its concentration in the atmosphere. Since the Gazi forest began to repopulate, aquatic wildlife has found a perfect habitat in which to complete its life cycle © Ami Vitale/calendario Lavazza 2019

May – Rebirth covers a surface area of 63 square metres and was created over five days using water-based mural paint. A colourful girl, a symbol of new generations, waters a grey industrial area and causes a lush garden to bloom. Genk, Belgium © Ami Vitale/calendario Lavazza 2019

June – A former industrial area and home to coal mines, Genk in Belgium has managed to reinvent itself, kick-start a new cycle of sustainable development and become the bee capital. The regeneration of the decommissioned industrial zone has given rise to 69 new gardens: meeting places where organic food is grown and bee hotels have been built, where the commitment of local residents has created ideal conditions for bees to thrive © Ami Vitale/calendario Lavazza 2019

July – Gerada's work Perpetual Flow covers 37,500 square metres and was created using a rake, stones found on site, 36 tonnes of dark gravel and vegetable oil. Water flows between two enormous hands as if in a perpetual stream, a symbol of the ability to reuse water to create a green belt around the city and thereby protect it from sandstorms © Ami Vitale/calendario Lavazza 2019

August – The people of Ouarzazate, a small town also known as the gateway to the desert, have managed to hold back sandstorms by building a belt of trees around the city. The greenbelt is made possible by innovative irrigation systems: wastewater is recycled, collected, filtered in water basins and then pumped into the green belt with the help of clean energy supplied by Noor Ouarzazate, the largest power station in North Africa. Thanks to the greenbelt, residents have also found new recreational spaces and an additional reason to protect local biodiversity © Ami Vitale/calendario Lavazza 2019

September – Dendrochronology by Gomez is a work completed over ten days, comprising six plexiglass panels 75 centimetres wide and between 40 and 210 centimetres tall, painted in oil colours. A woman, portrayed proud and unclothed, blends completely with the trees and vegetation © Ami Vitale/calendario Lavazza 2019

October – Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand and other organisations have joined forces to regenerate Thailand's degraded forests, which in the early 1960s covered 60 per cent of the country's territory and today cover less than 20 per cent. Reforestation has rehabilitated wildlife in Phetchaburi province, creating a perfect habitat above all for gibbons, but also for elephants and other animals that are here relearning how to find food. At the Wildlife Rescue Center there is a nursery where a special method has been developed to grow species that can play a key role in reforestation © Ami Vitale/calendario Lavazza 2019

November – Encompass I is a painting by artist Hula created on a white geotextile blanket measuring 30 square metres. It was made using non-toxic, 100 per cent biodegradable materials based on natural oils and pigments. Two children hide and shelter beneath a blanket, a symbol of the future generations who will have to grapple with issues such as climate change and glacier melting © Ami Vitale/calendario Lavazza 2019

December – The Rhône Glacier is an expanse of ice and snow ten kilometres long and 1,000 metres wide in the heart of the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. During the ice age it covered the whole of Switzerland, whereas today it loses around nine metres in length and depth every year. Local residents are trying to protect the glacier and slow its retreat with innovative solutions, such as white geotextile blankets that reflect the sun's rays © Ami Vitale/calendario Lavazza 2019

A story told through photography and art, translated into a perfect balance between majestic shots and unique artistic installations. "In Good to Earth, nature becomes art to inspire environmentally respectful behaviour. It is a contemporary art form, totally immersed in nature — an original mix between Ami Vitale's visual storytelling and the works of internationally renowned nature artists, who have engaged in a true process of co-creation with the environment," explains Francesca Lavazza, curator of the Lavazza calendar and member of the company's board of directors. Now in its 27th edition, this year's calendar selected projects from around the world with the help of Unep, the United Nations Environment Programme.

Good to Earth, the 2019 Lavazza calendar brings together art, photography and nature

Leafing through the twelve months, readers travel to Colombia, Morocco, Belgium, Switzerland, Kenya and Thailand to discover projects on sustainable agriculture, the creation of a greenbelt in the desert, the conversion of an urban area to bring bees back to the city, the protection of glaciers, the creation of mangrove forests and reforestation for wildlife conservation. Projects that, in turn, speak of the people and local communities who carry them forward with passion and dedication.

"I am thrilled by the way Good to Earth allows art to become part of the environment and to speak to us about the future of nature, which is ultimately the future of all of us," commented Ami Vitale. "In a world of more than 7 billion people, we need to start seeing ourselves as an integral part of the landscape: our destiny is bound to the fate of the natural world." Good to Earth brings together, therefore, images and stories that aim to inspire and captivate, to encourage our generation — and those that will follow — towards a positive change for the future of our planet.