Mini Madagascar and plants in the zoo

A little while ago I received a package from Roger Graf, the head of education at Zurich Zoo. He had read the issue of Roots on Botanic Gardens and Zoos (Roots 1:2 Botanic gardens and zoos; synergies for the future) and was interested in the role that zoos and zoo educators can, and do, play for plant conservation. He sent me the very attractive and interesting guidebook to their new Masoala Rainforest exhibition, a partnership project between Zurich Zoo and the Parc National Masoala in Madagascar, a real hotspot for biodiversity.

The guidebook is extremely attractive, with fold out maps of the exhibition and the area of Madagascar it is based on, information about the national park, rainforests and the conservation issues facing the country, plus details on the development of the new exhibition. The main body of the guide is on the plants of the rainforest - illustrated within the exhibition. Each species has a lovely illustration, description including physiological, evolutionary, historical and ethnobotanical information and portrait including range, relatives and economic utility. There are numerous colour photos throughout, with text boxes describing recipes and cultural details to bring the rainforest to life.

Further sections describe the animal exhibits within the mini Masoala Rainforest and outline what can be done to help conserve the rainforest.

The book is a lovely example of how a guidebook can be extended, to provide so much more than information about a given exhibition, but become an introduction to an ecosystem, its importance and threats and the organisms within it. More information about Zurich's Masoala Rainforest can be found on their website and the guidebook can be ordered through their online shop.

Hard Rain - tough issues, clear choices

One of the many roles of the BGCI website is as a shop front - we advertise books, resources and journals which our members may find interesting or useful. One which has had the most response is the visual and poetic feast, Hard Rain. The book uses Bob Dylan's lyrics with photographs illustrating some of the worlds major issues - pollution, climate change, poverty and human rights. An outdoor exhibition has been put together by the book's authors which has been touring botanic gardens around the world - for the list and to see what the exhibition looks like, have a look on the Hard Rain website.

Now a new expanded version is being released with four new chapters; No Time for Denial by Jonathon Porritt; Hard Choices by Robert May; Beware the Climate Fixers by John Elkington and Geoff Lye and Changing Consciousness by David Bohm as well as a new photo essay by Mark Edwards with over 50 new photographs. Mark is also working on a new banner for the exhibition, provisionally titled, "Remaking a world gone wrong". This banner will emphasize the urgent need for a radically new, worldwide approach to our problems. It will be displayed alongside Hard Rain and will present solutions from around the world that need to be urgently scaled up.". A copy of Hard Rain is being sent to every prime minister and president in the world with a request that they outline their policies regarding the problems illustrated in Hard Rain, and asking that they suggest existing “living solutions” from their country that could be adopted more widely.

For more information about the exhibition, how to contact the team if your garden or site would like to host it and details of the itinerary, see the Hard Rain website. To order the book, use the BGCI bookstore