Posted on April, 22 2013

Communities around the globe will pause today to celebrate Earth Day, a day set aside 43 years ago to highlight environmental conservation.

• Forests cover one-third of Earth and breathe life into our world – literally. 
• Over 40 percent of the world's oxygen is produced by tropical forests, while forests contribute to the critical balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide and humidity in the air. 
• With more than 1.6 billion people – often the world’s most impoverished – directly dependent on forests as a natural resource providing fuel wood, lumber for housing and nourishment, forests are under threat like never before. 
• Rates of deforestation remain alarmingly high. An astonishing 5.2 million hectares of forests are lost each year to deforestation and forest degradation – the equivalent of a football pitch/soccer field every second. 
• The impact is two-fold – this important resource vanishes and harmful carbon gases are released into the atmosphere. Deforestation and forest degradation account for up to 20% of the world’s carbon gas emissions, more than the global transport industry – all the automobiles, trucks, trains, airplanes and ships in the world.
• The carbon in forests exceeds the amount of carbon currently in the atmosphere. Estimates are that the world’s forests store 289 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon in their biomass alone.
• Forests are home to over 80% of terrestrial biodiversity. 
• Deforestation of closed tropical rainforests could account for the loss of as many as 100 species a day.

Join WWF’s campaign to conserve forests and fight climate change, connect with us via Twitter at www.twitter.com/wfforestcarbon and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/wwfforestclimate. 

Learn more about how forests can help fight climate change at: www.panda.org/forestclimate.