Deforestation

Deforestation is the human-driven and natural loss of trees. More than half of all deforestation is caused by farming, grazing of livestock, mining and drilling. Forestry practices, wildfires and urbanisation account for the rest. Forests cover about 30% of the world’s land area but this is reducing significantly. There are many reasons why deforestation matters including the threat to 80% of Earth’s land animals and plants. In addition to this, deforestation releases carbon dioxide to the air and reduces the Earth’s capacity to ability to absorb existing carbon dioxide. Our partner Cool Earth works with rainforest communities to halt deforestation and its impact on climate change.