Forests are essential for people, wildlife and fighting climate change - but they’re under tremendous threat. We’re dedicated to preserving them.
Forests matter – they help keep our climate stable, are home to 80% of terrestrial life on Earth, and provide 2.4 billion people with their basic needs and livelihoods. Yet despite their vital importance to all life on the planet, an area the size of a football pitch is destroyed every second.
We’re working with local partners in Europe, South America, Africa and South East Asia to tackle deforestation, protect wildlife and secure the rights of forest communities.
We work for forests to be used sustainably and protected. There are three important strands to this effort: improving laws, empowering forest communities and fighting illegal logging and trade.
We played a key role in designing the world’s first illegal logging law – the EU Timber Regulation - which stops illegal timber being sold the EU. We spent eight years working with local campaigners and forest communities to reform the Republic of Congo’s Forest Code, for the first time ensuring the rights of local forest communities. We’ve trained thousands of people, from those living in the forest to charities and government staff, to make sure the laws protecting our forests really work.
We are supporting A Rocha Ghana and other local partners in Ghana to preserve the iconic Atewa Forest, currently threatened by a foreign-owned bauxite mining proposal. A unique biodiversity hotspot, Atewa supports some 100 threatened and endangered species and is the primary water source for almost 5 million people.
Building on our work in Ghana for almost a decade, we are supporting this first of its kind legal intervention in Ghana, with potential ripple effects throughout the region and beyond.
20 December 2024
23 February 2024
4 May 2023
2 February 2023