"For each hundred trees of times long gone,
only five remain to bear witness and to accuse
The centuries-old, relentless executioner.
Only five, no more: the ghosts of the proud primeval forest."
(Carlos Drummond de Andrade)
The world's largest rainforest is located in the Amazon River basin. The Amazon rainforest has been described as the "lungs of our planet" because it continuously recycles carbon dioxide into oxygen, with a significant percentage of the world's atmospheric oxygen being produced in this region. Besides helping to regulate the world's climate, rainforests host an extraordinary diversity of life. Scientists believe that as many as half of the Earth's different species of plants and animals are found only in the rainforests, which take up a mere 7 percent of the world's landmass. By some estimates, more than half of the Earth's original rainforests have already been burned or cut down for timber or grazing land, and more than 130 plant, animal, and insect species are thought to be going extinct daily as a result of the lost habitat. Currently 25 percent of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from tropical rainforest ingredients, and 70 percent of the plants with anticancer properties are found only in this shrinking biome.
Women's wear: Silks, embroidery Auglaize and chiffon
Mans wear: Embroidered cotton, Tweeds and cotton voile
Credits
Photographer:
Fabrice Lachant www.photobyfabrice.com
Hair: Simon Setter
Make-up: Oonah Connor
Models:
MandP Models
Daniel James
Kate Bibb
Michele Wassberg
Women's shoes by Gil Carvalho