Why do we need forests?

Forests play an important role in the welfare of a vast number of people in both developed and developing countries—from urban citizens taking a recreational stroll in a nearby forest to isolated hunter-gatherers who live in and off the forest.

By absorbing water and holding soil in place, forests reduce the risk of floods and mudslides that result from natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes.

Forests protect watersheds that supply fresh water to rivers—critical sources of drinking water. More than 1.6b people around the world depend to varying degrees on forests for their livelihoods, not just for food but also for fuel, for livestock grazing areas and for medicine.

Ten countries with the largest forest area: US, Canada, Peru, Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Russia, India, China, Indonesia, Australia.

Ten countries with the largest area of productive forest plantations: US, Brazil, Russia, Sudan, China, India, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia.

Five countries with the largest annual net loss of forest area in the period 2000–5 were Brazil, Indonesia, Sudan, Myanmar and Zambia.

The Good

• Forests cover 31% of the world’s total land area.
• The livelihoods of over 1.6b people depend on forests.
• Forests are home to 300m people around the world.
• Over 40% of the world’s oxygen is produced by rainforests
• More than a quarter of modern medicines—worth an estimated US$108b/year—originate from tropical forest plants.
• Many birds that summer in North American backyards migrate to tropical rainforests in the winter. For example, the Baltimore Oriole travels from the eastern coast of the US to winter in the warm forests of Central and South America, where they often find refuge in shade-grown coffee farms—a journey of more than 3,000 miles. Not only do the trees on these farms provide habitat for the birds, they protect the coffee crop from the harsh rays of the sun.
• Boreal forests and taiga in extreme northern areas of the Arctic cover some 386m km2, representing one of the largest forest biomes in the world.
• The cloud forests of La Tigra National Park in Honduras supply more than 40% of its capital city’s water—supporting more than 850,000 people. Other capitals where cloud forests provide water supplies include Ecuador’s Quito—a city of 1.3m people—and Mexico City, with some 20m people.
• In just one year, a Brazil Nut tree can produce some 250lbs of nuts.
• The Congo basin forest is a natural mosaic of 400 mammal species, 280 reptile species, 900 butterfly species and 10,000 plant species.
• Some 30m people, comprising 150 different ethnic groups, live in the forests of Central Africa.
• The Amazon Basin, stretching through Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, contains the world’s largest tropical rainforest—and is home to more than 30m people. It is also an ecosystem with unparalleled rich biodiversity.

The Bad—and the Ugly

Conservation International has compiled a list of the 10 most at-risk forested hotspots around the world. These forests have all experienced losses of greater than 90% of their original habitat and each harbors at least 1,500 plant species found nowhere else in the world. If these forests are destroyed, those endemic species also will be lost forever. Close to 1b people who live in or around them rely on the natural resources these forest ecosystems provide. And, ultimately, we all rely on them—these 10 hotspots store over 25 gig tons of carbon, helping us to cope with the already inevitable effects of climate change.

Conservation International’s ranking of the world’s 10 most threatened forested hotspots, listed by percentage of remaining original habitat:

• Indo-Burma (southern Asia) 5%
• New Caledonia (Pacific Islands) 5%
• Sundaland (Indonesia/Malaysia) 7%
• Philippines 7%
• Atlantic Forest (South America) 8%
• Mountains of Southwest China 8%
• California Floristic Province (US and Mexico) 10%
• Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa 10%
• Madagascar & Indian Ocean Islands 10%
• Eastern Afromontane (Africa) 11%

Between 1990 and 2005, the rate of deforestation has averaged about 13 million hectares a year, occurring mostly in tropical countries. We are now losing about 200 square km—an equivalent of 18,100 soccer playing fields—daily. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) estimates that about 13m hectares—an area roughly equivalent to the size of Greece—of the world’s forests are cut down and converted to other land uses every year.

Over the last 8,000 years, ~45% of the Earth’s original forests have disappeared, many of which were cleared during the past century.

At 2m km2, the Congo Basin is the second largest rainforest in the world, second only to the Amazon. However, the forest is under serious threat from a combination of factors like illegal logging and settlements, shifting agriculture, population growth, oil and mining.

Approximately 13m hectares of the world’s forests are lost to deforestation each year. Up to 100 animal and plant species per day are believed to disappear along with these tropical forest habitats. Emissions resulting from deforestation may contribute ~20% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.