Forests are not thriving
They are one of our strongest allies in the fight against climate change, but the world is failing forests.
Forests suck up one third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, are home to 80% of the world’s land-based animal and plant species, and provide livelihoods for 1.6 billion people. The need for us to protect forests is the basis for many international pledges and targets. Yet, deforestation and forest degradation have continued.
We do not need new global forest goals to protect and restore our forests. We need to put into action the goals we already have. We must tackle the systemic threats to forests, deliver the funding needed to protect and restore them, and bring national policies in line with global commitments.
The pathways to meeting forest goals are known, but progress is slow and small-scale. We must change this. Failing against forest targets will have catastrophic impacts for people, including locking us into a world of dangerous climate change.
Forest stripes
Between 1970-2018, there’s been a shocking 79% average decline in the population abundance of species that rely on forests for survival. That includes gorillas, orangutans, hornbills, and so many more. Our Forest Stripes show the stark crisis that our forests face in one powerful image. Based on the Climate Stripes, the Forest Stripes were created by WWF in collaboration with the University of Reading, University of Derby, and ZSL. Find out more at Biodiversity stripes.
How can I use the stripes?
You can download the stripes from biodiversitystripes.info/forestspecies. Use of the stripes is encouraged under our licence, but cannot be used commercially without written permission from WWF and ZSL. Source: ZSL/WWF (2022) Forest Specialist Index, 1970 to 2018 (livingplanetindex.org/fsi).
Causes of forest loss
Causes of forest loss
Multiple threats are impacting global forests:
- Physical threats from climate change and changing wildfire patterns.
- Denial of rights, empowerment and governance to Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
- Financial, subsidy and trade systems that pay to harm forests.
The pathways to reducing these threats and meeting forest goals exist, but our progress is slow, fragmented and small-scale. We must build on the pockets of positive momentum from governments and businesses.
Missing our forest goals means ever greater risks for our planet
Missing our forest goals means ever greater risks for our planet
Less forest means a more unstable world. It raises risks for food and water security, more climate change, less protection against extreme weather events, and much less biodiversity.
The two largest tropical forests are at risk of reaching tipping points. This would release billions of tonnes of carbon and have devastating consequences for the millions of people who depend on the stability of their ecosystems. It would also have a global impact on our climate and catastrophic effects on biodiversity.
Impact of forest loss
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© WWF-UK / Shutterstock / ParthbhattMore Climate Change
Climate change is impacting every region on Earth and the impacts are now observable in every major forest type on Earth too. The stress from climate change means forests in the tropics, temperate and boreal regions are all experiencing increased tree mortality and larger and more frequent events where entire forests die off. There is no pathway to avoiding dangerous climate change unless we reverse the loss and degradation of forests.
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© Lefteris Partsalis / Xinhua / Alamy Liv NewsMore Increased Wildfires
Forest wildfire patterns are changing and increasing the amount of damage they cause. The dry season is lengthening in some tropical forests, with more frequent ‘fire weather’. Forests are experiencing more intense fires, and fires are now appearing in places where they were once rare.
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© Matthieu PaleyMore Loss of Biodiversity
The most recent Forest Specialist Index – which looks at changes over time in populations of wildlife highly dependent on forests – shows that the abundance of populations declined by 79% on average between 1970 and 2018. The loss of wildlife breaks down ecological processes in tropical forests, lowering their ability to store carbon.
Overexploitation of forest wildlife – mainly linked to commercial demand for wild meat and other wildlife products and land use change – is a major driver of decline in tropical forest biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as empty, or silent, forest syndrome.
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© Chris J Ratcliffe / WWF-UKMore Food System Collapse
Together, the Amazon and Congo forests move so much water between the ground and the atmosphere that they control the rainfall cycles that give the wet and dry seasons in the tropics. The agriculture that depends on these monsoon cycles delivers food security for two-thirds of the population of the planet. Without the Amazon and Congo forests the tropical monsoon systems would collapse, threatening global food security.
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© Mark Edwards / WWFMore Irreversible Damage
The planet’s two largest tropical forest basins, the Amazon and the Congo, face tipping points that risk abrupt loss of the forest. This would also threaten the income, food security and societies of the already vulnerable communities who depend on them. Tipping points are reached when the combined pressures of climate change, deforestation and degradation, and loss of wildlife, push the forest into a permanently degraded state.
Scientists studying the Amazon tipping point consider total forest loss of between 20% and 25% to be the boundary. While the precise figure is still being debated, there is evidence, that the Amazon is very close to reaching a tipping point and turning into a degraded ecosystem. The Amazon biome is under so much pressure that parts are now becoming net carbon emitters where they once were carbon sinks.
If the Amazon reached a tipping point it would have catastrophic consequences for 46 million people, the biome’s unique biodiversity, and result in a cascade of negative global climate impacts.
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Missing our forest goals means ever greater risks for our planet, each year we fail, because the targets get harder to meet each year that we fail them. Our findings show the pathways to protected, restored and sustainably managed forests are known – we don’t need new forest targets, we need to implement the ones we have with high ambition and accountability.
We can protect, restore and sustainably manage forests
We can protect, restore and sustainably manage forests
The forest pathways to meeting our goals are:
- Accelerating the recognition of Indigenous Peoples and local communities' right to own and manage their lands, territories and resources - and realising, respecting and permanently securing those rights.
- Mobilising massive financial flows, both public and private, and repurposing harmful ones to support green and sustainable forest economies and trade.
- Reforming the rules of global trade that harm forests, getting deforesting commodities out of global supply chains, and removing barriers to forest-friendly goods.
- Shifting towards nature-based and bio economies.
We must work collectively to build and realise these pathways to protected, restored and sustainably managed forests.
Progress is possible
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© Emmanuel Rondeau / WWF-USMore A corridor for wildlife and communities
Community forest corridors are supporting communities and helping forest and tiger habitat restoration on the Nepal India border. They’ve contributed to the recovery of wild tigers in the area, and tiger populations in Nepal have more than doubled since 2010.
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© Shutterstock / rickyd / WWFMore Koala-friendly carbon
It’s estimated that koala numbers in eastern Australia have halved over the last twenty years, largely due to land clearing and deforestation. WWF Australia is working with private landholders to restore koala habitats while earning carbon credits, through the creation of forests and woodlands for the threatened species. This also provides vital carbon storage.
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© Jody MacDonald / WWF-USMore Restoring the Atlantic Forest
The Atlantic Forest, a rich tropical forest stretching across Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, is on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation. Now, a Trinational Pact has created a positive conservation and restoration effort that has already achieved around 1 million hectares under restoration. It has also created 126,000 jobs and contributed to the restoration of golden lion tamarin and jaguar habitat.
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More Toward responsible timber supply
Gabon is one of the world’s most forested countries, with over 88% of its total area covered by tropical rainforests. Of the 22 million hectares of forest in Gabon, 15 million hectares are under logging concessions, meaning that they have been assigned for logging. WWF China and Gabon are collaborating to promote sustainable and responsible timber supply chains, and there have been encouraging signs of a shift towards sustainable forest management in Gabon.
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© Chris J Ratcliffe / WWF-UKMore Roads in elephant land
India has an estimated population of 30,000 wild Asian elephants, which move in and out of protected areas. India also has the second largest road network in the world, and highway construction is still a national developmental priority. WWF India has been working with officials towards the implementation of guidelines around road and rail projects, safeguarding forest protected areas and giving wildlife safe passage across roads.
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© Naturepl.com / Ross Hoddinott / WWFMore Creating a wilder future
A restoration effort in the north of England – ‘Wild Ingleborough’ – is actively restoring woodlands to return a continuous belt of woodland to a degraded landscape, with conservation grazing to support natural regeneration of oak woodland in the UK.
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© Odair Leal / WWF-BrazilMore Networks of support in the Amazon
The Amazon is threatened by increasing deforestation, degradation and overexploitation, posing big risks to biodiversity, climate and local livelihoods. Indigenous territories form a barrier against the advance of deforestation. The Kanindé Deforestation Monitoring System in Brazil is supporting Indigenous Peoples to monitor the forest and defend their territory, through access to satellite imagery and drone technology.
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