Forests and the environment

• Forests ensure environmental functions such as biodiversity, water and soil conservation, water supply and climate regulation.
• Mismanagement of woodlands in humid and subhumid tropical countries significantly contributes to soil losses equivalent to a 10 percent loss of agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) per year.
• Deforestation accounts for up to 20 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
• In arid environments, forests are crucial to food security in dry seasons and years.
• Forests provide habitats to about two-thirds of all species on earth.
• Deforestation of closed tropical rainforests could account for the loss of as many as 100 species a day.