Forests
Forests cover 12% of the planet and nearly all are inhabited. The forests provide manifold services and roles like
- maintaining the fertility of the soil, protecting watersheds and reducing the risk of natural disasters such as floods and landslides through regulating water supplies and stemming soil erosion;
- providing livelihoods for about 350 million forest peoples;
- being the most bio diverse terrestrial ecosystems and home to at least 80% of all land-based plants and animals;
- intact forests being a major carbon storehouse and sink, providing thus invaluable climate protection services;
- providing the forest products for (economic) use, such as wood and non-timber forest products like edible nuts and fruits, medical plants, fibres and rubber;
- supplying employment, which can be important in number in the case of small scale and informal forestry, especially in combination with agroforestry; in the case of large scale plantations, however, the employment effect is negligible.
However, forests are destroyed at unprecedented rates. The drivers of deforestation and forest degradation are:
- unsustainable and illegal logging practices;
- conversion of natural forests into timber or pulp plantations;
- conversion of forests for agricultural expansion;
- conversion of mangrove forests for aquaculture;
- development of large-scale industrial and infrastructure projects.
Impacts
Deforestation and forest degradation deprive communities of their land and means of living, often cause biodiversity loss, soil erosion and cause surface and ground water levels to fall, often dramatically. They may also cause severe forest fires. Like other resources, the income of logging can help to maintain conflicts.
Industrial tree plantations and pulp mills as one important driver have impacts such as sucking high amounts of water, creating severe water and air pollution, which affects the health of the neighbouring communities while creating only very few and dangerous jobs.
Logging high quality woods for export is another driver for forest degradation. This is an important source of income for some developing countries, especially in West- and Central Africa.
Many of the peoples who live in and have customary rights to their forests have developed ways of life and traditional knowledge that are attuned to their forest environments. Yet forest policies commonly treat forests as empty lands controlled by the State and available for 'development' - colonisation, logging, plantations, dams, mines, oil wells, gas pipelines and agribusiness.
Civil society
Organisations, networks, movements working especially on forests:
