Forests for people

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About Forests for people

This group is inspired by 2011 being declared "International Year of Forests" (IYF) by the UN. The theme of IYF - and this group - is to celebrate people’s action to sustainably manage the world’s forests - to raise awareness of sustainable management and conservation.

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We are interested in all types of forest - and indeed all places where trees can be found, from remote natural wilderness to woodlands on our doorsteps, city parks and gardens. More particularly we are interested in how people interact with the forests and trees - what we feel about them, what effect we have on them, and what effect they have on us. We are especially interested in the people who live in forests, people who work in them and people who help to ensure we will have forests in the future. This group is about how we need to think more about sustainable management and development – this includes commercial forestry (the good and the bad) because industry is people - it's employment and it's consumers.

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Forests are home to a great number of the world's plants and animals, but also to around 300 million people. Many more depend directly on forests or woodlands for their livelihoods and virtually all of use resources they produce.

We have always been dependent on trees - and in more ways than most people realise. Trees not only take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, but they provide many more environmental, economic and social benefits.

Forests are vital to the global ecosystem. They regulate the climate, produce rainfall and provide biodiversity. They are also very important, on the less grand scale, to our everyday lives.

Forests (whether natural, modified or man-made) provide a renewable source of wood, fibre, fuel and food as well as benefits from recreation and tourism. They also provide a host of less tangible benefits such as local weather moderation, defence against flooding, land stabilisation and soil protection, a buffer against pollution, wild pollinators and pest control, cultural enrichment, physical and mental wellbeing, and new scientific understanding. These valuable "ecosystem services" are so complex and interconnected, and operate on such a scale, that we could not hope to manage without them.

There is no doubt that human activity has caused huge damage to the world's forests and is still doing so. But, we should also be aware of the good things that are happening too because we all have an important role to play – whether that is through the products we choose to buy, the campaigns we support, or though the many jobs that help protect or manage our forests and improve the balance between society, economy and environment. Awareness and understanding is key.