Forests

We cannot protect species without conserving their habitat. Forests contain as much as 90% of the world's terrestrial animal and plant life.

Forests also provide raw materials for food, shelter and fuel, essential for the 1.2 billion people who live in extreme poverty around the world. And forests benefit our environment by regulating the climate, water cycles and soil erosion.

But the world's forests are in crisis. Only half of our original forest cover remains and, of that, only one-tenth is protected. We are currently losing around 13 million hectares of forest each year, according to the Global Forest Resources Assessment.

Forests are a key focus of WWF’s global conservation work. We promote and campaign for the protection, responsible management and restoration of forests and we aim to address consumption issues that directly or indirectly drive key threats to forests.

The main causes of forest loss and degradation are illegal and destructive logging, unsustainable forest management, conversion to agriculture, and infrastructural development. Deforestation is responsible for 15-20% of global CO₂ emissions.

To address these threats, WWF-UK promotes forest conservation, implements credible certification and sustainable forest management, and tackles illegal logging and trade. We also support forest conservation field programmes in the Amazon basin, Atlantic forest, Borneo, Colombia, the coastal forests of east Africa, the eastern Himalayas, and New Guinea.