Forests

Forests mean different things to different people. For some it is a refuge, a retreat, a place to escape to and find rest and solitude. For others it is home and a source of livelihood. Forests in their many forms harbor much of the world’s rapidly diminishing biodiversity, and are vital to sustaining life on Earth. 

Forests provide many important natural resources – from timber to paper to medicinal plants. They purify the air we breathe, help sustain the quality and availability of freshwater supplies, and regulate local and global climate by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  Many of the world’s most threatened and endangered  animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on ecosystem services forests offer, including for food, clothing, traditional medicine, shelter and subsistence agriculture. Yet nearly 36 million acres of natural forest are lost each year – an area roughly the size of New York State. This rapid forest loss is having devastating consequences for the environment, and the wildlife and communities that depend on forests for their survival.

A world without trees

All around the world there is increasing evidence of what happens when we remove forests from the landscape – Depending upon the location and scale of forest removal, as well as the type of landcover that takes its place, the natural water balance can get irreversibly disrupted. Forest loss often results in habitat degradation, species extinctions, and an overall compromise of the ecological integrity of the landscape. In addition, trees that are cut down release their stored carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, thus helping accelerate global climate change.

WWF’s integrated approach of sound environmental practices for the protection, management and restoration of forest landscapes makes effective linkages between forest conservation, species protection and the well-being of communities who depend on the forest for their survival.

Read more on what WWF is doing to protect, manage and restore the forests around the world