From subalpine conifer forests to lush tropical rainforests, forests cover nearly one-third of the earth’s land surface. But as people burn and chop down massive amounts of trees, this forest coverage is rapidly dwindling. In 2020, a football field-sized area of tropical forest was lost every four seconds. As our forests disappear, it has a devastating ripple effect on people, wildlife, and the planet.
There are so many reasons why we should conserve our forests and keep them standing. Read on to discover 14 of the incredible benefits that forests provide and consider protecting them by offsetting your carbon footprint!
Though terrestrial forests typically get most of the attention, they are not the only ecosystems that possess a natural ability to fight climate change. There are three coastal ecosystems that are also highly effective at sequestering carbon dioxide: mangroves, seagrass, and salt marshes. The carbon that is captured and stored by these coastal ecosystems is known as “blue carbon.” Pound for pound, these blue carbon ecosystems can actually store up to 10 times more carbon than tropical rainforests.
