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Top 10 Facts about Forests 

Discover more about forests, the challenges and threats they are facing, and what you can do to help. 

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© Naturepl.com / Joao Burini / WWF
Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) in the Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo.jpg
© Sabrina Schumann

1. Forests are home to over 80% of the world's land-based species of animals, plants and insects

These animals help to keep the forest healthy. For example, elephants distribute seeds from fruits they have eaten. When the seeds pass through their gut, they come out undigested in their dung, and germinate in the ground. [1][2]

Aerial view of Amazon rainforest, Brazil
© Shutterstock / Gustavo Frazao / WWF

2. Forests can make rain

Over three-quarters of the world’s accessible freshwater comes from rivers in or around forests. Forests also move so much water from the soil into the atmosphere that they create rain. Parts of the Amazon actually trigger their own rainy season. [3][4] 

Trees in autumn colours in the Lazovsky State Nature Reserve
© Vladimir Filonov / WWF

3. We still don't know all there is to know about our forests

We don’t know how many tree species there are on Earth, but scientists estimate there are about 63,000 known species. There could be as many as 9,000 tree species still unknown to science. [5]

View of Yellow Meranti (Shorea faguetiana) the world’s tallest tropical tree in Tawau Hills Park, Sabah, Borneo, Malaysia.
© Aaron Gekoski / WWF-US

4. Forests are incredibly good at storing carbon

Most of this carbon storage takes place underground. For example, in UK forests, around 70% of carbon stored is kept in the soil. The rest is stored in the roots, surface litter and the tree above ground. [6][7] 

Waterfall in tropical rainforest at Lacan-tun, Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, Chiapas, Mexico.
© Naturepl.com / Juan Manuel Borrero / WWF

5. Our tropical forests store about one-third as much carbon as is held in the atmosphere

Around 30% of all the carbon reserved in the world's forests is stored in the forests of South America - around 82 gigatonnes.[8][9] 

Amazon upland rainforest with (Dinizia excelsa) tree, Caxiuana NF, Para, Brazil
© Naturepl.com / Luiz Claudio Marigo / WWF

6. Forests once covered just under half of the earth's land

The total number of trees has fallen by nearly half since the start of human civilisation and it's estimated that over 15 billion trees are cut down each year. That’s around 100,000 square kilometres of forest, or roughly one football pitch every two seconds.[10] [11] [12] 

Amazon, Brazil, near the Venezuelan frontier. Tropical rainforest, deforestation. Land which has been systematically deforested and logged then given over to cattle ranching.
© Nigel Dickinson / WWF

7. Our food system is the biggest driver of forest loss

Up to 80% of deforestation worldwide happens to make room for crops and livestock.[13] 

Palm Oil - palm fruit, having been harvested is piled up in order to be weighed.
© James Morgan  / WWF-International

8. In 2018 the UK was the second largest net importer of forest products in the world, surpassed only by China

To supply the annual UK demand for just seven products (beef and leather, timber, soy, palm oil, pulp and paper, cocoa, and rubber) requires a land area of almost 90% of the size of the UK. Nearly 30% of this land is in countries at high risk of deforestation. [14][15]

Amazon Rainforest deforestation and fire
© Andre Dib / WWF-Brazil

9. People are responsible for around three-quarters of all wildfires

 Between 2001 and 2015 23% of global forest loss was due to wildfires. [16][17]

Illegal deforestation found in the indigenous Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau territory.
© Marizilda Cruppe / WWF-UK

10. Deforestation releases carbon dioxide that has been stored as carbon in trees, roots and soil, making climate change worse

This creates a feedback loop, as climate change increases the likelihood of deforestation, as the risk of droughts, wildfires and pest infestations increases and stresses the forest ecosystem. There is simply no way we can fight the climate crisis if we don’t stop deforestation. [18]

Sources

  • [1] Shvidenko, A. et al. Forest and woodland systems in Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Current State and Trends (ed. R. Hassan) 595–621 (Island Press, 2005). AND Aerts, R. & Honnay, O. Forest restoration, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. BMC Ecology 11, doi:10.1186/1472-6785-11-29 (2011) as seen in WWF Living Planet Report 2018. Aiming Higher 
  • [2] Forest Pathways Report, ‘Empty Forests’, 3.1_Empty Forests_F2 - Google Docs. Original source: Platt, J.R. 2016. Asian Elephants Help Seed the Forest. Scientific American. Retrieved from: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/asian-elephants-seed-forest/ 
  • [3] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005.Chapter 21: Forests and woodland systems. in: MA Ecosystems and Well-being: Current State and Trends. http://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.290.aspx.pdf Page 587.
  • [4] NASA https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2608/new-study-shows-the-amazon-makes-its-own-rainy-season/
  • [5] The number of tree species on Earth | PNAS article
  • [6] Environment Agency, Chief Scientist’s Group. (2022). Working with nature. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-with-nature 
  • [7] The UK Forest Research (Waring et al. 2020) 
  • [8] Edward T. A. Mitchard (2018) The tropical forest carbon cycle and climate change. Nature 534 Vol 559 
  • [9] FAO (2015). Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015. How are the world’s forests changing? Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Rome, 2015. 
  • [10] The Prince's Charities' Foundation (2015) Tropical Forests A review. International Sustainability Unit.   
  • [11] Crowther, T et al (2015). Mapping tree density at a global scale. Nature Vol 000 pP:1-7 
  • [12] FAO. 2020. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020: Main report. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9825en 
  • [13] Kissinger, G., Herold, M. and De Sy, V. 2012. Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation: A Synthesis Report for REDD+ Policymakers. Lexeme Consulting, Vancouver Canada and Bayas, J.C.L., See, L., Georgieva, I., Schepaschko, D., Danylo, O., et al. 2022. Drivers of tropical forest loss between 2008 and 2019. Nature: Scientific Data9: 146. 
  • [14] WWF & RSPB Riskier Business: the UK’s Overseas Land Footprint. The UK's Overseas Land Footprint 2020 
  • [15] Forestry Facts and Figures 2020 https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/publications/forestry-facts-and-figur… 
  • [16] Curtis et al., Science 361, 1108–1111 (2018) Classifying drivers of global forest loss
  • [17] WWF (2020) Fires, Forests and the Future: A crisis raging out of control? 
  • [18] World Bank Forests and Trees in a Sustainable Landscape Action Plan FY14-16 (2013) 

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