Trends in the proportion of land area under forests is used as one of the indicators for the Millennium Development Goals (United Nations, 2008).
We are losing forests at a rate of 27 football fields a minute. That is a startling number. But the biggest problem for the world’s forests is not the outright clearing of forests, known as deforestation. It is degradation. Degraded forests are a problem, as they reduce their efficiency in keeping air and water clean, in providing wildlife with shelter and food, or in capturing carbon.
Key drivers for the loss of biodiversity and changes to forest ecosystems are:
- Land-use change, especially through agriculture expansion, is the most destructive driver for the loss of the natural world on land, followed by the extraction and overexploitation of species like timber harvests and hunting.
The indirect drivers which are driving an unprecedented rate of global change in nature are:
- Growing human population
- Global economy
- Trade driving demand for energy and materials
- The wrong economic incentives with insufficient recognition of the values of ecosystem functions.