Forests are essential to life. They purify the air we breathe, provide life-saving medicines and contain well over half the world's species. Yet our forests are in crisis. Approximately half of the world's original forest cover has been lost for ever, and an area of forest almost the size of Greece disappears each year. WWF helped set up the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which ensures that forests are managed responsibly. Just under 25 million hectares of forest – an area roughly the size of the UK – has been certified, and more than 10,000 products in the UK alone now carry the FSC logo.   Here are a just a few of the ways that YOU could help: Buy FSC-certified timber and paper products Look for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo when buying wood products, from paper to raw timber. This ensures the wood comes from a well managed forest. You will find them at B&Q, Homebase, Sainsbury's, Boots and the Body Shop and other forward-thinking retailers Ask retailers where the timber products they sell come from. If they are not from FSC-certified forests, insist that they should be If you go on holiday to Kenya, buy only carvings made from plantation or farm-produced 'Good Woods', such as neem, jacaranda, mango and grevillea. WWF-UK is working with carvers to achieve FSC certification for these carvings. Reduce paper consumption Buy recycled or recyclable products such as toilet tissue and stationery Don't buy products with excessive amounts of packaging and, where possible, choose products with re-useable containers Find out whether your company uses recycled paper, and if not, encourage it to change		Four out of five children with leukaemia are saved by the rosy periwinkle, originally from the tropical forests of Madagascar. In fact plants have created a quarter of all prescribed medicines. Yet more and more life-saving plants are becoming extinct, as we destroy the world's forests. Who knows what potential cures for cancer, AIDs or heart disease are being lost forever? Download advert as pdf file   Find out more about our work. For other simple things you can do to help the environment, visit our re-think section.   Find out more about medicinal plants