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FORESTS ARE THE LUNGS OF OUR PLANET AND BIODIVERSITY IS THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
10 FOOTBALL PITCHES OF PRIMARY TROPICAL FOREST ARE LOST PER MINUTE
WHEN WE PROTECT FORESTS, THEY PROTECT US IN RETURN.
Trees are critical in the fight against climate change. By breathing in carbon from the atmosphere and incorporating it into their roots, trunks, and leaves, trees have the potential to remove 30% of global annual CO2 emissions. Preventing deforestation is one of the most holistic and effective solutions to protecting humanity from the droughts, famines, floods, fires, and pandemics brought about by climate change.
In the last two decades, the world has lost a total of 437 million hectares of tree cover– an area roughly half the size of the United States. Of particular concern is deforestation in the world’s tropical primary forests, which historically have acted as vital carbon sinks. In 2021 alone, tropical primary forest loss resulted in 2.5 Gt of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the annual fossil fuel emissions of India.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE GUARDIANS OF OUR PLANET’S FORESTS.
At Wildlife Works, our local community partners lead in developing and implementing solutions for their own economic development and climate adaptation.
PROTECTING FORESTS AND THEIR BIODIVERSITY HELPS:
STORE CARBON AND REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
PROVIDE HABITAT TO MILLIONS OF SPECIES
REGULATE GLOBAL AND LOCAL RAIN PATTERNS
REGULATE GLOBAL AND LOCAL SURFACE TEMPERATURES
PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH
SUPPORT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES
FORESTS ARE ESSENTIAL TO LIFE ON OUR PLANET.
From creating the oxygen we breathe, to maintaining regional rainfall patterns that ensure global food security, forests are humanity's life support systems. Forests provide shelter and are home to 80 percent of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. Millions of mammals, birds, reptiles, and insects call forests home, and in reciprocity, these species help maintain the health of forests.
Biodiversity is the variety of life on our planet, including all of the mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, fungi, insects, plants and vast kingdoms of microorganisms. Diversity on the ecosystem, species, and genetic levels are critical to the planet’s health. A greater variety of species increases the resilience of our planet’s critical ecosystems, and strengthens the benefits they provide to humanity.
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