Thirty per cent of all trees are in the so-called boreal ecosystem, a circle of mostly coniferous trees, ranging from Europe and Asia to North America. These boreal forests, also referred to as taiga, convert massive amounts of CO² into oxygen. Over a span of 100 years, an average tree produces enough oxygen to allow a single person to breathe for twenty years. Still, less than twelve per cent of these forests are protected. For Borealis, photographer Jeroen Toirkens and journalist Jelle Brandt Corstius travelled to these forests, looking for the stories of the people living there. Their mission turned into eight very different journeys, to Norway, Scotland, Canada, Japan, Alaska and Russia.

Text in English and Dutch.