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Forests are home to 300 million people and 80% of all land-based species. A Rocha is helping to protect some of the world’s most important forests, studying the wildlife, and helping forest communities to protect their environment and improve their quality of life.
Categories
Beneficiaries
Situation
It is imperative that we act to save our tropical forests across the globe. These forests are under threat of deforestation (loss of original forest), fragmentation (leaving just forest patches) and degradation (reduction of forest productivity) due to human activities such as expanding agriculture, illegal logging and over-extraction, as well as natural disasters like disease, pests and changes in climate. This loss of forests also has serious economic impact for forest communities.
Solution
A Rocha works to combat these issues on several levels. We protect forests by stopping deforestation, planting new forests with native species and helping communities to generate income without depleting forest resources. We look at alternative livelihood options (such as bee keeping, fisheries, basketry) for communities who depend on the forests for their income, and we conduct research so that we better understand how forest ecosystems work and how we can protect them more effectively.