The world's forest cover is shrinking. Over the past 50 years nearly half of the world's original forest cover has been lost some 3 billion hectares. Between 1980 and 1995 the world lost some 180 million hectares of forest an area the size of Indonesia. Forests have many functions of value both to humanity and to nature itself. Healthy forests boost food production.
Trees soak up and store water from season to season, slowly releasing moisture during dry periods.
Without tree cover, water runs off faster during the tropical rainy season, carrying away valuable topsoil. One reason that agricultural yields have fallen in sub-Saharan Africa is that vast amounts of forest cover have disappeared, hastening soil erosion and loss of soil nutrients. Forest cover regulates climate, while destruction of forests contributes to global warming. Whereas living trees soak up and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, trees that are cut down and burned release carbon into the atmosphere. The developed world accounts for most of the demand for forest products.