Francis Hallé is a botanist, biologist and specialist in trees and tropical forests, undoubtedly an international reference. Known for the Radeau des cimes expedition (1986), in which he explored the world’s forest canopy with the help of a hot air balloon. An extraordinary human and scientific adventure that profoundly transformed our knowledge of plants in their arboreal form. Understanding the plant kingdom, Hallé says, requires an “intellectual revolution” and today, more than ever, it is an emergency. Author of Manifesto for a primary forest in Western Europein 2019, he conceived the idea of creating a primary forest in Western Europe, and for this purpose created the Francis Hallé Association pour une fôret primaire dans l’Europe de l’Ouest. Among dozens of publications, the following stand out: Plea for the Tree, 2005; In Praise of the Plant: For a New Biology, 2019; Le Radeau des Cimes: L’exploration des canopées forestières, 2000; Vagrant Species: a Threat?, 2021; and. Essai sur l’architecture et la dynamique de croissance des arbres tropicaux. (Masson Ed., Paris. 1970).
