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IDF 2016: GEF News article

These days, one might think understanding the importance of forests for our planet should not be hard – even a fifth grader knows that forests are the lungs of the Earth. Yet despite this common knowledge, the world’s forest area continues to decrease at alarming rate due to the expansion of agriculture, timber production, urbanization, and road construction. 聽According to the last Global Forest Resources Assessments released last year by FAO, each year more than 7 million hectares of natural forests are lost and 50 million hectares of forestland are burned.

Since 2013, the聽International Day of Forests聽(IDF) is held annually on March 21 to raise awareness of the importance of forests to people. This year, the theme chosen for the IDF is the role of forests in supplying freshwater.

Acting as natural water filters, forested watersheds along with wetlands supply 75 percent of the world’s accessible freshwater. About one-third of the world’s largest cities obtain a significant proportion of their drinking water directly from forested protected areas. Forests also conserve water by increasing infiltration, moderating floods, and enhancing precipitation.

But availability and quality of fresh water in many regions of the world is increasingly endangered by overuse, misuse and pollution, which makes forests more and more essential for life and for humanity.

To face this dangerous degradation of our vital environment, the聽Global Environment Facility聽is actively engaged in the development and the implementation of several important programs conducive to the protection, restoration and the sustainable management of significant areas of forests worldwide. Through these programs, the goal of the GEF is to maintain the range of environmental products and services derived from forests, including water resources, as well as enhancing sustainable livelihoods for local communities and forest dependent people.聽

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