Rainforests have long been recognized as hotspots of biodiversity—but they are crucial for our planet in other surprising ways. These ecosystems provide indispensable benefits, from capturing carbon and ensuring food security to contributing to breakthroughs in medicine, farming, engineering, and protecting numerous species.

In Rainforest: Dispatches from Earth’s Most Vital Frontlines, conservationist Tony Juniper journeys from the barren forests of the Americas to Indonesia, where palm oil plantations have supplanted much of the former rainforest. Along the way, he delivers a comprehensive view of the crucial roles rainforests serve, the state of the world’s rainforests today, and the inspirational efforts underway to save them.

The photos below, included in full color in the book, showcase the beauty and diversity of our planet's rainforests.

Rainforest: Dispatches from Earth's Most Vital Frontlines

All photographs by Thomas Marent.