Forests
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Forests provide essential resources such as food, firewood, building materials,
fodder, medicines, and many other things. Trees and forests also play an
important role in sustaining a healthy environment. They keep the air and
water clean, prevent erosion and flooding, enrich soil, make homes for birds,
animals, and plants, provide shade, and make our communities beautiful. Trees
and forests help to stabilize the climate and reduce climate change.
In order for forests to continue providing resources and sustaining a healthy
environment, they must be well cared for, managed fairly, and used wisely.
But because forest resources are needed by communities inside and outside
the forest and also valued by industries, and because the land under forests is
sometimes wanted for other uses, forests around the world are being cleared
faster than they can grow back. Sometimes logging companies, construction
companies, or other industries that clear forests, such as mining, offer people
sources of income they desperately need.
However, there is a balance to be found between the need to use land and
resources, and the need to protect these resources for the future. Whenever too
much of a resource is used, it causes far-reaching and long-lasting harm. Many
communities that have lived off the forest for generations know that they will
be seriously harmed if too much of the forest is used up or cleared.