On an early morning in August, I hiked into the vast, dark forest of Borneo’s Danum Valley Conservation Area, stepping over imaginary boa constrictors as I listened to the forest come alive with the first light of dawn. As the mist rose over the ancient trees, I heard a whistling sound overhead and looked up to find it was the wind passing through the wings of a magnificent rhinoceros hornbill.

The forests that harbor hornbills—as well as the pygmy elephants, orangutans and Bornean bristleheads that attract ecotourists from around the world—face rampant deforestation. Their wealth of natural resources has attracted large-scale international financing for industries that extract resources, from precious hardwoods and minerals to palm oil, rubber, natural gas and petroleum. The pressure to feed growing global demand and the huge capacity of mills and other operations funded by international investors has led to unsustainable logging, massive forest conversion and other practices that imperil the island’s ecological integrity.

Deforestation also contributes to climate change: Twenty percent of all carbon dioxide emissions come from forest loss and land use. CO2 is released into the atmosphere when trees are harvested and burned, and when soils are disturbed by land uses like tilling farmland or building infrastructure. Ten countries account for 87 percent of global deforestation, with Indonesia and Brazil alone accounting for 54 percent of the resulting emissions. That’s why WWF is launching a network initiative on forests and carbon, with the long-term goal of zero net CO2 emissions from deforestation by 2050. Our near-term goal is to make sure the post-Kyoto climate treaty negotiations include CO2 emissions from deforestation and land-use change.

Being in Borneo reminded me that we work in a mosaic of landscapes around the world where economic pressures, agricultural activities, and biodiversity protection exist side by side. That’s why it’s imperative that we bring our best game to saving these landscapes not only by creating and managing protected areas, but also by successfully transforming global markets.

The beauty of Borneo will stay with me forever. By reducing the forces of deforestation in this magnificent place, we not only stand a chance of saving a home in the wild for the rhinoceros hornbill, but also of stabilizing our climate for future generations