RAINFOREST
A living system larger than our imagination.
It looks like forest.
It is millions of lives.
Tropical rainforests occupy less than 7% of Earth’s surface, yet almost half of all living species are thought to be found there.
What looks like a single green surface from above is a layered living system of trees, water, fungi, insects, birds, mammals and microorganisms.
SOURCE / SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE ↗Discover what was
always there.
NOTHING IS EMPTY.
Hover or tap the observation points. Each layer reveals a different part of the same system.
The forest was never empty. You simply had not looked yet.
Not scenery.
Infrastructure.
BIODIVERSITY
Rainforests contain the greatest diversity of life found in any terrestrial ecosystem.
CLIMATE
Healthy tropical forests store carbon and help regulate regional and global climate systems.
WATER
Tropical forests recycle enormous amounts of moisture and help sustain rainfall.
PEOPLE
Forests provide food, shelter, livelihoods, medicine and clean water to communities around the world.
Most of the forest
is not what you see.
Canopy, understory, roots, fungi, insects, microorganisms and water are not separate exhibits. They are parts of one living system.
HE DOESN’T NEED
OUR SYMPATHY.
HE NEEDS HIS FOREST.
Orangutans are critically endangered. Habitat loss, alteration and fragmentation remain major threats. Protecting a species means protecting the living system around it.
SOURCE / IUCN ↗
What disappears
is more than trees.
Habitat. Water cycles. Carbon storage. Food. Shelter. Movement. Memory. Relationships between species that took millions of years to form.
SAME LAND.DIFFERENT DEFINITION OF VALUE.
IT LOOKS SMALL
FROM HERE.
So does everything we are about to lose.
RETURN TO THE CANOPY ↑