INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FORESTS The importance of forests cannot be underestimated, and they are a part of our lives more than we realise. The 21st March brings us International Day of Forests and by understanding their importance to life and learning how we can protect them is the first step to forest sustainability!
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n the South West, we are blessed to be surrounded by beautiful coastlines and greenspace but unfortuantely we are all guilty of taking it for granted and causing environmental damage by not understanding how the way we live impacts this system that provides us with life. With the evergrowing pressure to help preserve and protect the environment, understanding the importance of forests to us is a crucial step to making a difference. We depend on forests for our survival, from the air we breathe to the wood we use. Besides providing habitats for animals and livelihoods for humans, forests also offer watershed protection, prevent soil erosion and mitigate climate change. Yet, despite our dependence on forests, we are still allowing them to disappear.
International Day of Forests aims to help raise awareness of how much forests mean to us and educate us on how we can help preserve the beauty that mother nature gifted us with. Global warming is no myth and it’s certainly not slowing down, meaning we’ve got to be proactive and do our bit even if it’s a small change to our habits. Forests cover nearly a third of all land on Earth, providing the vital organic infrastructure
for life to thrive on our planet, supporting countless species - including our own. But we are all guilty of taking our green spaces and forests for granted by not considering how we live affects them negatively. Every year millions of acres of forest are cleared by humans for housing, farming and industrial purposes so we can create ‘vital’ products such as paper, medicine and timber. We are quick to destroy forest areas such as tropical regions like the Amazon rainforest where deforestation threatens some of the most valuable ecosystems on earth. Unfortunately, the rate at which forests are replaced is too slow, having a detrimental effect on humans as well as the ecosystems that once existed in the forests. Human impacts have already led to the loss of around 40% of the world’s forests. And today, an area the size of a football pitch is still being destroyed every second. Protecting and restoring forests has never been more urgent.
It’s time to stop and think about what forests mean to us and how we can help preserve them. Forests pump out the oxygen we need to live and absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale. A single mature, leafy tree is estimated to produce a day’s supply of oxygen for anywhere from two to 10 people. We underestimate how indispensable forests are to everyone on the planet and as humans we rely on forests to help us survive, without these vital spaces our existence may cease.
Forests are more than just a bunch of trees. 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. Nearly half of Earth’s known species live in forests, including 80% of biodiversity
on land. That variety is especially rich in tropical rainforests, but forests teem with life around the planet: Insects and worms work nutrients into the soil, bees and birds spread pollen and seeds, and keystone species like wolves and big cats keep hungry herbivores in check. Biodiversity is a big deal, both for ecosystems and human economies, yet it’s increasingly threatened around the world by deforestation. It’s not just other living creatures that use forests as their natural habit. It’s estimated that nearly 300 million people across the globe live in forests, including an estimated 60 million indigenous people whose survival depends almost entirely on native woodlands.
If we continue to destroy forests at a rapid rate, we will face horrible consequences. Forests affect our lives every day, if you’ve had your breakfast, sat on a chair, made a shopping list, read a book, used a tissue to catch a sneeze or travelled by bus or car - forests had a vital part to play in each of those things whether directly or indirectly. With better protection, forests can continue to provide a welcome home for wildlife and resources for indigenous people and local communities. And, globally, they can keep providing us all with essentials such as fresh air and
