A hidden beauty
RAINFOREST: A PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEY<br>by Thomas Marent<br>DK Publishers pp 360, ISBN 1-4053-1530-X
A picture can tell a thousand words. At a crucial time when the destruction of the rainforests is fast accelerating, Thomas Marent gives voice through his vibrant photographs to those who cannot speak: The little known (and seen) magnificent vegetation, rare animals and beautiful insects which inhabit the world's rainforests.
Rainforest is a gripping journey which takes the viewer to hidden locations in our planet's most diverse and exotic habitat. Shockingly enough, we know more about our universe than the workings of the rainforest which is said to contain a plethora of potentially life-saving medicinal plants.
Mr Marent's book is the result of 16 years of travelling five continents. The photos of this self-taught photographer capture the fascinating behaviour and incredible variety of rainforest animals and plants - from the hardworking colonies of leafcutter ants and poisonous frogs to the flying rainbows of butterflies and birds that flutter high in the tree tops. The detailed comments on each photograph make the journey an even more personal one.
A heart-warming photo, covering two of the large pages of the book, of an orang-utan gains significant depth when one reads Mr Marent's comments about there being something "remarkably human in her sad expression as she toyed with the leaves in front of her". Perhaps the sadness came from the fact that she only had one arm, and was unable to idle in a tree, as orang-utans prefer to do.
As well as taking the reader on a breathtaking trip into this little-known haven, the book provides interesting information about our rainforests. Simon Counsell, the director of the Rainforest Foundation, explains how the tropical rainforests cover just six per cent of the earth's land surface yet are believed to contain at least half of all the species on the planet.
Much of Central America is covered in tropical rainforest, while the Pacific coast of North America hosts a huge temperate forest. South America boasts beautiful rainforests which extend from the tropics of Amazonia to the western slopes of the Andes in Chile. Some scientists believe that there could be millions of species in the largest swathes of the rainforest - in South America's Amazon Basin, Africa's Congo Basin and in Southeast Asia's mainland coast as well as its numerous tropical islands. The rainforests of Australasia range from lush New Guinea jungles, through ancient Queensland forests, to cold New Zealand woodlands.
Many species have not yet been discovered or labelled. New discoveries are being made all the time. A wealth of resources lies in the rainforest which has proved to be of enormous benefit to the survival and well-being of human kind - from foods and beverages such as bananas, avocados and cocoa, to cancer-treating cures.
I was particularly impressed by the close-ups of the secret myriad rainforest life. The mushrooms were particularly impressive; it is difficult to imagine this familiar vegetable growing so large and abundantly that one could get lost walking among them. I could not help but imagine myself walking through them as Alice in a Wonderland of giant fungi.
There can never be sufficient propaganda on the importance of saving the rainforests. Forming a precious cooling band around the earth's equator, their destruction is now being recognised as one of the man causes of climate change. The unbridled gashing and burning of the trees is second only to the energy sector as emitter of greenhouse gasses. With the terrifying increase of global warming, a book which pinpoints the magnificence of the natural world we are fast destroying will perhaps remind us of what we still have left to protect.
• Ms Stivala is reading for a Masters degree at the University of Edinburgh.
• A review copy of this title was made available by Books Plus of Bisazza Street, Sliema.
Rainforest is a gripping journey which takes the viewer to hidden locations in our planet's most diverse and exotic habitat. Shockingly enough, we know more about our universe than the workings of the rainforest which is said to contain a plethora of potentially life-saving medicinal plants.
Mr Marent's book is the result of 16 years of travelling five continents. The photos of this self-taught photographer capture the fascinating behaviour and incredible variety of rainforest animals and plants - from the hardworking colonies of leafcutter ants and poisonous frogs to the flying rainbows of butterflies and birds that flutter high in the tree tops. The detailed comments on each photograph make the journey an even more personal one.
A heart-warming photo, covering two of the large pages of the book, of an orang-utan gains significant depth when one reads Mr Marent's comments about there being something "remarkably human in her sad expression as she toyed with the leaves in front of her". Perhaps the sadness came from the fact that she only had one arm, and was unable to idle in a tree, as orang-utans prefer to do.
As well as taking the reader on a breathtaking trip into this little-known haven, the book provides interesting information about our rainforests. Simon Counsell, the director of the Rainforest Foundation, explains how the tropical rainforests cover just six per cent of the earth's land surface yet are believed to contain at least half of all the species on the planet.
Much of Central America is covered in tropical rainforest, while the Pacific coast of North America hosts a huge temperate forest. South America boasts beautiful rainforests which extend from the tropics of Amazonia to the western slopes of the Andes in Chile. Some scientists believe that there could be millions of species in the largest swathes of the rainforest - in South America's Amazon Basin, Africa's Congo Basin and in Southeast Asia's mainland coast as well as its numerous tropical islands. The rainforests of Australasia range from lush New Guinea jungles, through ancient Queensland forests, to cold New Zealand woodlands.
Many species have not yet been discovered or labelled. New discoveries are being made all the time. A wealth of resources lies in the rainforest which has proved to be of enormous benefit to the survival and well-being of human kind - from foods and beverages such as bananas, avocados and cocoa, to cancer-treating cures.
I was particularly impressed by the close-ups of the secret myriad rainforest life. The mushrooms were particularly impressive; it is difficult to imagine this familiar vegetable growing so large and abundantly that one could get lost walking among them. I could not help but imagine myself walking through them as Alice in a Wonderland of giant fungi.
There can never be sufficient propaganda on the importance of saving the rainforests. Forming a precious cooling band around the earth's equator, their destruction is now being recognised as one of the man causes of climate change. The unbridled gashing and burning of the trees is second only to the energy sector as emitter of greenhouse gasses. With the terrifying increase of global warming, a book which pinpoints the magnificence of the natural world we are fast destroying will perhaps remind us of what we still have left to protect.
• Ms Stivala is reading for a Masters degree at the University of Edinburgh.
• A review copy of this title was made available by Books Plus of Bisazza Street, Sliema.