Forests

If asked to define a forest, most of us will just think of trees. But forests also provide ecological services that local communities and species depend on for their survival. However, too many forests are being asked to supply more than they can sustain over the long term.  They need to be managed in a way that can meet today’s needs, while protecting and restoring their ecological integrity and production capacity for future generations.  WWF works worldwide to end destructive and illegal logging.  Our comprehensive approach transforms market conditions and policy, preserves habitats, protects species and strengthens the livelihoods of communities and indigenous groups who depend on forests for their survival.

Manage
Forest management is necessary for all life to have continued access to the resources needed for today and the future. WWF is working to manage almost 540 million acres of forests in a socially, environmentally and economically responsible manner.  We aim to improve the management of forests outside protected areas by:

• Increasing credible certification of forests and curbing illegal logging
• Encouraging companies to source their forest products from well-managed forests
• Helping communities have more control over their forests.

Protect
By 2005, roughly 11 percent, or over 1 billion acres, of the world's forests were designated as protected areas. That's about half the size of the United State. These areas represent some of the great forests such as the Amazon, the Congo, China, Indonesia and Russia. WWF aims to protect another 185 million acres of the world’s forests by 2010. We want all types of forests, from mangroves to dry forests, from Peru to Madagascar, represented within protected areas. We are also creating networks of forests; ensuring that they are well maintained and that fragmented protected areas are connected through forest landscape restoration projects. This will improve the forests' resilience, allow animals and plant life to interchange, and ensure that a healthier ecosystem will thrive.

Read about our work to safeguard the Amazon: The Amazon Rain Forest Protected Areas Program 

Restore
Nearly half the world’s original forests have been lost and many are still being damaged, degraded or destroyed. WWF works to return degraded forests to a more authentic state. However, restoring forests involves much more than just planting new trees. It is also about restoring the goods and services that forests provide – improved water quality; soil stabilization; access to food, medicines and raw materials; and stable sources of income for local people. At the global level, WWF works to make forest restoration that combines human well-being and biodiversity conservation a high priority for governments, the forest industry and local communities. Research is also vital to enable WWF to make recommendations on issues such as how government money is invested in tree planting and forest restoration.

Climate change
Forests have a critical role to play in the fight against climate change.  They are the largest storehouse of carbon on Earth and, after coal and oil, are the third largest sources of carbon emissions, generating between 15-20 percent of overall emissions. There is a real opportunity to achieve global cooperation through a new Kyoto Protocol that sets targets for reducing industrial emissions as well as emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. WWF advocates for a new framework, where the drivers of deforestation will be addressed by national and regional governments and the private and financial sectors will eliminate greenhouse gases from deforestation and degradation by 2020. 

Read more on the effects climate change has on forests 

Policy
WWF's government relations team engages the U.S. Congress and the administration to further WWF's conservation mission and to secure funding from U.S. government partners to support conservation programs and fieldwork around the world.