Sadly all of this is threatened by just a few human-related activities, most notably unsustainable logging, land clearance for agriculture and construction, and forest fires. Clear felling of a patch of pristine Scandinavian forest could, in a matter of days, undo 1,000 years of natural evolution. In just a few hours, a forest fire in the Brazilian Amazon could easily wipe out several plant or animal species, and seriously threaten many others. Quite simply, we will never know, but it is probable that the losses incurred during such short-lived devastation will far outweigh any possible human gain in clearing these forests. Such catastrophes also limit any options for using these forests, the species they contain, and the services they provide, in the future.
Many people feel that it has gone on too long.
It is time to protect representative areas of all forest types . The principal function of these forests and, therefore, the main goal for management should be to maintain ecological processes. Countries must act now to increase the area of effectively managed protected forests, before it is too late.