FORESTS COVER 27% OF LAND ON EARTH AND HOLD 70% OF PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES, WHILE DEFORESTATION THREATENS THE LOSS OF THESE MOST BIODIVERSE HABITATS AND GENERATES 10% OF ANNUAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS.
Restoring and protecting forests and reforming forestry practices could reduce and absorb up to 30% of annual ghg emissions, prevent plant and animal extinctions, preserve biodiversity, and ensure sustainable forestry resources around the world.
"BECAUSE ABOUT 2/3 OF ALL SPECIES ON EARTH ARE FOUND IN NATURAL FORESTS, MAINTAINING INTACT FORESTS IS VITAL TO PREVENT MASS EXTINCTION."
“It is no coincidence that some of the most carbon-rich ecosystems on land - natural forests - also harbor high levels of biodiversity... it is the very pests, pathogens, pollinators, decomposers, and predators that comprise a tropical forest that [generate] the carbon-rich growth forms (in both wood and soil) that take the carbon out of the atmosphere.”
ONLY 22% OF EARTHS ORIGINAL FORESTS REMAIN.
“For every ton of wood a forest grows, it removes 1.47 tons of carbon dioxide and replaces it with 1.07 tons of oxygen.”
WHAT IF WE COULD SET ASIDE 40% OF ALL LAND ON EARTH FOR THRIVING, CARBON-RICH AND BIODIVERSE FORESTS?
By expanding forest protections, restoring degraded forest, and reducing our agricultural and grazing footprints, we could set aside 23% of our land for pristine forest, 10% for forest restoration, and 7% for sustainably managed forestry.
BY ADOPTING SUSTAINABLE AND REGENERATIVE PRACTICES IN AGRICULTURE, RANCHING, FISHING AND AQUACULTURE, AND FORESTRY, WE CAN POTENTIALLY OFFSET 45%-90% OF ANNUAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS.
Nature Based Solutions “are economic, scalable, and... available now and almost everywhere on the planet. They offer co-benefits, including rural regeneration, improved food and water security, coastal resilience and biodiversity protection...”