Importance of forests
From the air we breathe to the wood we love
Just think of how forests have affected your life today: Have you had your breakfast? Read a newspaper? Switched on a light? Travelled to work in a bus or car? Signed a cheque? Made a shopping list? Got a parking ticket? Blown your nose into a tissue? Forest products are used in our daily lives.
All the activities listed above directly or indirectly involve forests. Some are easy to figure out - fruits, paper and wood from trees, and so on. Others are less obvious - by-products that go into the manufacture of other everyday items like medicines, cosmetics and detergents.
Habitats for biodiversity and livelihood for humans
But looking at it beyond our narrow, human, not to mention urban, perspective, forests provide habitats to diverse animal species, and they also form the source of livelihood for many different human settlements as well as for governments.
They offer watershed protection, timber and non-timber products, and various recreational options. They prevent soil erosion, help in maintaining the water cycle, and check global warming by using carbon dioxide in photosynthesis.
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.
- 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