5 Surprising Things About Forests for International Day of Forests
Today is International Day of Forests. These important ecosystems are getting the spotlight they deserve. There’s much that can be said about the benefits forests provide, and certainly more than can be captured in a single list.
Many of us are familiar with the large-scale impact forests have for wildlife—serving as habitat for over 2/3 of terrestrial species—and climate, with their ability to absorb and store large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere.
But there’s more, and some of the things that forests do might surprise you:
Forests serve as the Earth’s natural air conditioners
By pulling water up from the soil and through their leaves—a process called transpiration—trees cool the air around them and help cool the planet. This is in addition to the cooling forests provide by absorbing carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere. When forests are degraded or destroyed, we are not only losing their ability to capture greenhouse gases, but also the extra cooling they provide. This is why the destruction of forests leads to rapid heating of the planet, moving us farther from reaching our climate goals.
Forests maintain regional rainfall?
A recent study (by Flores et al) shows how the Amazon forest biome can impact climate conditions—specifically, rain patterns—in areas hundreds of miles away. This means agricultural yields and other water supply issues can be impacted by the destruction or protection of a forest even if they’re far away. ?
Not all forests function equally
As forests are damaged or degraded, the benefits they provide diminish, including benefits for climate and for biodiversity. WCS and partners developed a tool that maps the degradation level of forests everywhere. The Forest Landscape Integrity Index maps the world’s forests on a scale of 0-10 with higher numbers (and greener color) indicating forests that are healthiest and least stressed.
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Over 1/3 of the world’s healthiest forests are within Indigenous Peoples’ lands?
Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IP & LCs) are the best stewards of forest ecosystems, with over 1/3 of the highest integrity (least degraded) forest areas occurring within their lands. Protecting their rights and supporting their role as protectors and managers of these forests must be a global priority.
Even remote, high-integrity forests are under threat. ?
The world’s remaining high-integrity forests aren’t inherently safe from threats. Many of these areas lack formal protection, and none are immune to the drivers of forest degradation —hunting, logging and other forms of resource extraction—particularly as even the most remote parts of the planet become more accessible. ?
To help protect the Earth’s remaining high integrity forests, WCS developed the High Integrity Forest Initiative (HIFOR), a finance mechanism to incentivize the stewards of these forests—Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and tropical forest governments—to maintain them and the critical climate regulation and biodiversity conservation that they provide. Each HIFOR unit represents one hectare of well-maintained, high-integrity tropical forest.
técnico en evaluación ambiental
5 个月Forestation efforts are sometimes Hard to implement, but always have a positive effect on rainwater infiltration and also on local ecosystem conservación, specially when autoctone species of trees and shrubs are the main election . WE HAVE A LITTLE PROJECT OF REFORESTATION with mediterranean plant species in the Southwest of Madrid Community, that has a family project character, but an important effect on erosion reduction , with a long- term development. Its aim is to generate a local agriculture positive impact on the spread of autoctone botanical species!!
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8 个月Thank you for sensitizing the community about forest conservation. I am very concerned about the degradation of forests and trees in Pakistan. This piece of land is already facing the brunt of climate change.
Linguiste - Analyste/ Communicateur, Manager des Entreprises Touristiques et H?telières
8 个月Nous avons le devoir de protéger nos forêts.
Explorer, Educator, Writer
8 个月Not only do indigenous peoples care for a disproportionate amount of protected forest, but they are also often penalized for harvesting according to their traditions. Does the public have more of an interest in Indigenous land than the Indigenous groups?