Ennovent

Brief

Although tropical rainforests cover only about 6% of the earth's land surface (less than half the area they covered not so very long ago), they are important centres of biodiversity and ecosystem services. 

There are 3 main regions of tropical rainforest: in Central and South America, in West and Central Africa, and in Southeast Asia. The Amazon Basin forest is the largest, covering 6 million sq km. Rainforests are perhaps the most threatened ecosystems globally due to large-scale human activity. Each year, some 140,000 sq km of rainforests are destroyed. The most endangered rainforests are those in West Africa, Central America and South-East Asia. Although large areas of rainforest remain in Central Africa and South America, they, too, are disappearing at an alarming rate.

Tropical forests play an important role in maintaining biological diversity, sequestering and storing carbon, global climate regulation, disease control, and pollination. In addition to ecosystem services, tropical forests also provide resources to people. For example, the sustainable exploitation of non-timber forest products such as fruits, medicinal plants or herbs are critical for the survival of local communities and mankind in general.

WWF is committed to conserving the world's rainforests, not only for the incredible wealth of plants and animals that live in them, but for the benefit of people. Sustainable enterprises providing goods and services with a neutral or positive impact on the environment and tropical forests have started, but are still relatively few in number and at an early stage.