International Day of Forests celebrates the importance of forests and the important roles they play for various organisms and ecosystems worldwide. This date was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests. Forests provide habitat and food for many of the world’s organisms including birds, snakes, turtles, insects, and plants. Forests are also known for their ability to filter out CO2 from the atmosphere and produce oxygen. The Amazon Rainforest, which some have called the lungs of the Earth, produces around 20% of the Earth’s oxygen supply. Forests are valuable for the wellbeing of the world around us and the biodiversity of organisms on the planet. However, there has been in recent years concern with the alarming rate at which we are losing hectares of forests annually.
Forest Loss
The loss of forests around the world has been due to a variety of things including deforestation and an increase in forest fires. Around 10 million hectares of land are lost annually due to deforestation and around 70 million are being affected by fires annually. Deforestation worldwide is due to an increase in urban development, farming, and agricultural land to meet the demands of an exponentially growing population. Forest fires are common in these ecosystems, however in the past couple decades, an increased number of forests have been affecting these ecosystems greatly. A decrease in forest management (which includes fires) has led to larger and less controlled fires. Innovation has been done to develop early warning systems, empowering Indigenous voices worldwide through land mapping and climate finance access, and sustainable production of the good and services that come from forests (lumber, coffee, fruit, etc.).