Why Save The Forest? [Benefits of the Forest] - Animated Video

These green giants are essential for people, climate and wildlife. Forests act as a source of food, medicine and fuel for more than a billion people. In addition to helping to respond to climate change and protect soils and water, forests hold more than three-quarters of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, provide many products and services that contribute to socio-economic development and are particularly important for hundreds of millions of people in rural areas, including many of the world’s poorest.

The importance of forests cannot be underestimated.

We depend on forests for our survival, from the air we breathe to the wood we use. Besides providing habitats for animals and livelihoods for humans, forests also offer watershed protection, prevent soil erosion and mitigate climate change. Yet, despite our dependence on forests, we are still allowing them to disappear.

How have forests affected your life today?

Have you had your breakfast? Travelled to work in a bus or car? Sat on a chair? Made a shopping list? Got a parking ticket? Blown your nose into a tissue? Forest products are a vital part of our daily lives in more ways than we can imagine.

Over 2 billion people rely on forests

Forests provide us with shelter, livelihoods, water, food and fuel security. All these activities directly or indirectly involve forests. Some are easy to figure out - fruits, paper and wood from trees, and so on. Others are less obvious, such as by-products that go into everyday items like medicines, cosmetics and detergents.

Habitats for biodiversity and livelihood for humans

Looking at it beyond our narrow, human – not to mention urban – perspective, forests provide habitats to diverse animal species. They are home to 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, and they also form the source of livelihood for many different human settlements, including 60 million indigenous people.

Forests provide jobs for more than 13 million people across the world

In addition, 300 million people live in forests, including 60 million indigenous people.Yet, we are losing them. Between 1990 and 2015, the world lost some 129 million ha of forest, an area the size of South Africa. When we take away the forest, it is not just the trees that go. The entire ecosystem begins to fall apart, with dire consequences for all of us.

After oceans, forests are the world’s largest storehouses of carbon.

They provide ecosystem services that are critical to human welfare. These include:

Absorbing harmful greenhouse gasses that produce climate change. In tropical forests alone, a quarter of a trillion tons of carbon is stored in above and below ground biomass

Providing clean water for drinking, bathing, and other household needs

Protecting watersheds and reducing or slowing the amount of erosion and chemicals that reach waterways

Providing food and medicine

Serving as a buffer in natural disasters like flood and rainfalls

Providing habitat to more than half of the world’s land-based species