Step up efforts to protect forests and support forest communities

Local huts in Song Thanh, Vietnam. Photo: Terry Sunderland

Every year, unsustainable agriculture, timber trafficking, organized crime and illegal trade in wild animal species, costs the world about 4.7 million hectares of forests, which also raises the risk of zoonotic diseases, such as Ebola and COVID-19. In his address Mr. Guterres highlighted the benefits of forests, home to about 80 per cent of all terrestrial wild species, and underlined that forests help regulate the climate and support the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.

World Wildlife Day 2021 was marked with the theme of Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet. The Day also recognizes the importance of forest-based livelihoods and promotes forest and forest wildlife management practices that accommodate both human wellbeing and long-term conservation of forests. Read the full article: Protect forests for ‘people, planet and prosperity', Guterres urges on World Wildlife Day | | UN News

For further reading related to the World Wildlife Day theme, have a look at these major scientific assessment reports and policy briefs published by the Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEP) Programme:

IUFRO: Expert Panel on Forests and Poverty 2020 / GFEP Initiative / Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEP) Programme
IUFRO: Expert Panel on Illegal Timber Trade 2016 / GFEP Initiative / Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEP) Programme
IUFRO: Expert Panel on Forests and Food Security 2015 / GFEP Initiative / Global Forest Expert Panels (GFEP) Programme