Blog Posts: forests

Most communities overlook a critical tool in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions: trees. One of the reasons is that they don’t know how to account for forests and trees in their emissions inventories.

The latest IPCC report confirms a lot we already knew about the relationship between tropical forests and climate change, as well as reveals some relatively new science about how forests interact with the atmosphere. The bottom line? Protecting forests—especially tropical forests—is one of the most important strategies for both climate mitigation and adaptation.

A new IPCC report found there could be significant benefits to land-based carbon removal, such as through afforestation and restoration. But if deployed incorrectly, these strategies could create greater pressures on land and compromise food security and ecosystem health.

Indigenous peoples and other local communities have long argued that they play a central role in safeguarding more than half the world’s land, including much of its forests. The world’s leading climate scientists now agree.

The latest IPCC report finds that while land sequesters almost a third of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions, it will be impossible to limit temperature rise to safe levels without fundamentally changing the way the world produces food and manages land.

While Indonesia is one of few countries actually reducing its deforestation, key provinces are still losing primary forests and peat.

Indonesia is one of the only countries actually reducing its deforestation rates. But with the annual fires season beginning and El Niño promising fire-prone conditions, the country’s forest protection policies will be put to the test.

Deforestation rates in the Congo Basin — historically lower than in the Amazon and southeast Asia — are on the rise. It's not just a problem for the 80 million people who rely on the forests for food and livelihoods; research shows the world's second-largest rainforest regulates weather patterns across Africa.

More than 360 companies committed to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains by 2020. Most are not on track to meet this target, but Global Forest Watch Pro can help.

Indonesia has shown promising results in forest conservation, with temporary bans on expansion of oil palm into forests and peatlands yielding notable reductions in forest loss. Here's how to double down on that success.