The photography of Olaf Otto Becker always bears witness to humanity's impact on the environment. With his newest book, Reading the Landscape, he highlights the discombobulating contrast between the traditional, romantic vision of nature and the brutal reality of land decimated by clearcutting. And he amplifies the point by presenting the almost surreal juxtaposition of lush foliage incorporated into bustling cities in an effort to expose people to the outdoors and offset the impact of rampant overconsumption.

Becker started the project in 2009 after seeing Australian farmers burning the bush to clear land for cattle. The following year he photographed illegal logging by coca growers in Bolivia, then went on to document primeval forests and deforestation in Africa, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Siberia, and California. He didn't think to include urban greenery until 2012 when a cabbie in Singapore suggested he visit Gardens by the Bay, a sprawling park built on reclaimed land alongside Marina Reservoir.

Hatje Cantz

Forests cover about one-third of the planet's land, according to the World Wildlife Fund, and as many as 58,000 square miles are lost to deforestation annually. That's the equivalent of 36 football fields every minute. This land is cleared both legally and illegally to make way for homes, harvest timber, and clear land for cattle and other livestock.

Deforestation is among the leading contributors to global climate change. And then there's the impact on wildlife. Though the forests Becker photographed teem with creatures great and small, many are forced from their habitat when the land is stripped. This rich tapestry of flora and fauna is altered, and sometimes lost. Granted, much of this land is reforested in some way, but the new growth does not offer or support the same ecological diversity as the forest it replaced.

Of course, this is not a story those clearing the land necessarily want told. Although Becker and his guides had a few run-ins with security guards, they never experienced any trouble. In Bolivia, guards followed them around, keeping him from getting the shots he wanted. His guides in Sumatra and Borneo advised him to avoid areas with legal clearcutting—though they did, with help from some locals, access areas being clearcut illegally.

The irony of this is, even as so many entities a clearing land legally and illegally, others are rushing to create the illusion of nature by building vast parks and ecological preserves in urban areas. Among the most majestic is Gardens by the Bay, which charges admission and looks like a set from Logan’s Run. The park's supertrees are crazy-looking vertical gardens that generate electricity from solar panels, regulate the temperature with its constructed canopy of plant life, collect rainwater, and more. In many ways, they mimic the trees being so aggressively cleared around the world.

Yet as Becker reminds us, “The inventions of the best architects in the world cannot replace destroyed habitats and the complex ecosystem."