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Forests cover 31% of total land area.   The livelihoods of 1.6 billion people depend on forests.   Forests provide a home to more than 300 million people worldwide.   The total global trade in forest products was valued at around $379 billion in 2005.   Forests are home to 80% of terrestrial biodiversity.

In this high-tech world of metal and plastic, it's easy to forget that many things are still made with good, old-fashioned wood. Countries with lots of forest stand to benefit from the lucrative timber trade, but at what cost to their ecological footprint? Here are five major timber exporters, and who is buying their wood. © WWF / GOOD / SectionDesign The Global Timber Trade, Who's Buying, Who's Selling? In this high-tech world of metal and plastic, it's easy to forget that many things are still made with good, old-fashioned wood. Countries with lots of forest stand to benefit from the lucrative timber trade, but at what cost to their ecological footprint? Here are 5 major timber exporters, and who is buying their wood. Our EarthForestsImportance of ForestsForest conservationTypes of ForestsProblemsSearch Forest News & Resources Priority Forests Amur-Heilong Amazon Borneo Forests Caucasus Carpathians Congo Basin European Alps Himalayas Mediterranean Forests Mekong Forests New Guinea Forests Did you know? The five most forest-rich countries are the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the USA and China, and they account for more than half of the total forest area. Ten countries or areas have no forest at all and an additional 54 have forest on less than 10% of their total land area.

environmental importance of the world’s vast tropical rainforests is well known – both

Most alarming, says the report, is that many of these changes have accelerated in the past decade, despite the plethora of international conventions signed since the initial Rio Summit in 1992.

Climate-warming carbon emissions have increased 40% in the past 20 years, but two-thirds of that rise occurred in the past decade.

Wealthy countries have seen some improvement, with the Living Planet biodiversity index, rising 7% since 1970, as nature reserves and protections were introduced. But the biodiversity index has dropped by 60% in developing countries, where people depend more on nature.

The landscape contains:One in ten known species on Earth1.4 billion acres of dense forests, half of the planet’s remaining tropical forests4,100 miles of winding rivers

Basin

2.6 million square miles, about 40 percent of South America, in the Amazon

For biologists, tropical rainforests are some of the richest, most exciting areas on earth! They are home to gigantic trees, colourful birds, millions of brightly hued insects, and a variety of fascinating mammals. There are 3 main regions of tropical rainforest: in Central and South America, in West and Central Africa, and in Southeast Asia.

ropical rainforests have more kinds of trees than any other forests in the world. The richest in plant species are Amazon forests, but in general all tropical forests have an incredible variety of trees

Threats Intensive commercial logging has destroyed more than 90% of the native forests of this ecoregion. The immense size of the mighty redwood trees, and the beauty of their wood, has made them a target for loggers for more than a century. Even logging in surrounding watersheds can have severe repercussions for redwood groves, since it can cause severe flooding, fires, and sedimentation. The spread of urban areas between Monterey and San Francisco, along with the introduction of exotic plants into these ancient forests, exacerbate the problems. Cruise ships can lead to pollution, as well as disturbing whales and other marine mammals. Other threats include pollution from pulp mills and mines. Introduced beavers are also creating problems for native wildlife. Their damming of small streams is making it difficult for Coho salmon to travel upstream and spawn. Similarly, introduced rats, squirrels, and raccoons have reduced the size of seabird colonies as they prey on eggs and young birds.

One in ten known species on Earth lives in the Amazon. Its forests contain 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, the release of even a portion of which would accelerate global warming significantly. 30 million people living in the Amazon depend on its resources and services – not to mention many millions more living as far away as North America and Europe, but still within the Amazon’s far-reaching climatic influence.

Often described as the Earth’s lungs, only in reverse, the tropical rainforests

What’s truly amazing, however, is that while the tropical rainforests cover just 2% of the Earth's land surface, they are home to two-thirds of all the living species on the planet. Additionally, "nearly half the medicinal compounds we use every day come from plants endemic to the tropical rainforest." If a cure for cancer or AIDS is to be found, it’ll almost certainly come from the tropical rainforests.

The Primary Source, writes that "tropical rainforests are the Earth’s oldest continuous ecosystems.

10 million

today there are less than 250,000 indigenous natives.

215 ethnic groups speaking 170 different languages in an area composing 190 million acres of land – roughly twice the size of California.

When the trees are cut down it takes away the habitat of the plants and animals. It also reduces the space for the indigenous people who have lived there for thousands of years.

This way of life has died out with contact from incomers.

Some native groups suffered greatly from diseases which they had no resistance to.

The review, published in the journal Conservation Biology, highlights destruction and degradation of ecosystems as the main threat. In Australia, agriculture has altered or destroyed half of all woodland and forests. Around 70% of the remaining forest has been damaged by logging. Loss of habitats is behind 80% of threatened species, the report claims.

More than 2,500 invasive plant species have colonised Australia and New Zealand, competing for sunlight and nutrients. Many have been introduced by governments, horticulturists and hunters. In addition, the report says, average temperatures in Australia have increased, in line with climate change predictions, forcing some species towards Antarctica and others to higher, cooler ground.