Francis Hallé , a renowned French researcher known for his work on tree architecture and a passionate advocate for tropical forests, died on December 31 at the age of 87. His death was announced by the association that bears his name, which stated in a press release that he passed away in Montpellier, surrounded by his family. A very popular figure beyond the scientific community, he had established himself as a passionate communicator, able to explain living things with clarity and the aid of illustrations.
A canopy explorer who became a major voice of the forests
His name remains inextricably linked to the Canopy Raft, expeditions conducted from 1986 to 2012 to study biodiversity at the canopy of tropical rainforests, a territory long inaccessible to researchers. Through numerous missions in Latin America , Africa, and Asia, he was also among the first field scientists to raise awareness of the crucial role of these vast forests in regulating the climate and the accelerating collapse of biodiversity. In a 2022 interview with franceinfo Culture, he denounced the excessive space that humans claim for themselves in the natural world, asserting that “we will not give up.”
Over the years, Francis Hallé published numerous books and gave many presentations to popularize his discoveries and defend threatened ecosystems. France Télévisions notes that he was the author of some twenty books, including *The Life of Trees*, as well as a graphic novel published in 2025, *The Genius of the Forest*, created with Vincent Zabus and Nicoby.
The dream of a “primeval forest” in Europe, conceived over seven centuries
In recent years, he had focused his energy on a project as ambitious as it was symbolic: enabling the regeneration, in Western Europe , of a vast forest left untouched by human activity, covering approximately 70,000 hectares, for a period of several centuries. Le Monde points out that this “primeval forest” would be closed to all activity other than scientific research for at least 700 years, a timescale chosen to put humanity back in its place in relation to the rhythms of nature.
The Francis Hallé Association , founded in 2019, intends to continue this idea despite his passing, recalling in its press release that the botanist accepted that he would not see the completion of this project, but saw it as a useful endeavor “to the honor of humanity”.
