GLOBAL CHALLENGES BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOTS BIODIVERSITY LOSS

RAINFORESTS
27% OF ASSESSED
On average,

COVER JUST 6% 137 SPECIES

Deforestation and OF GLOBAL
LAND AREA
ARE DRIVEN TO
EXTINCTION SPECIES
biodiversity loss but are home to over
IN TROPICAL RAINFORESTS
EVERY DAY.3
ARE THREATENED 4
Human survival is intrinsically linked to forests, yet
deforestation and forest degradation continue at alarming
50% Animal species assessed
as threatened in 2020:
WITH EXTINCTION:
rates. The consequences will be tragic – especially in biodiverse
tropical areas – with looming mass extinctions of plants and
animals, and increased likelihood of infectious diseases.
OF PLANT
AND ANIMAL
SPECIES.2
14,735 41% 33% 30%
Plant and fungi species
4

assessed as threatened
TOTAL REMAINING FOREST COVER About 1.11 billion in 2020: of amphibians of reef corals of sharks, rays

17,706
4.06
hectares remains as
ABOUT undisturbed, primary
4

31%
forest, 60% of which
is found in just three
countries: the Russian
Federation, Brazil,
28% 26% 14%
BILLION
OF GLOBAL and Canada.1
of crustaceans of mammals of birds
LAND AREA

HECTARES. 1

DEFORESTATION HEALTH IMPACTS

OVER 50% OF THE

SINCE THE 3.8 MILLION EQUIVALENT THE OVERWHELMING DIRECT Deforestation can lead to a rise in
Emerging Infectious Diseases like:
1960s CAUSE OF DEFORESTATION

WORLD’S TROPICAL HECTARES TO ROUGHLY IS AGRICULTURE,

with the main drivers being:7
EBOLA NIPAH LASSA

10FIELDS
OF TROPICAL FOOTBALL CORONA VIRUSES
FORESTS HAVE BEEN PRIMARY FORESTT6 EVERY MINUTE. Subsistence Commercial Forestry
and parasites that cause:

LYME DISEASE
DESTROYED. 5
WAS LOST IN 2019.
farming:

48% 32% 15%

agriculture: and logging:

MALARIA8

Sources: 1. The state of the world's forests 2020, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 2. Rainforests, National Geographic 3. Rainforest Action Network (RAN) 4. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Redlist 5. Deforestation and forest degradation, IUCN
6. We Lost a Football Pitch of Primary Rainforest Every 6 Seconds in 2019, World Resources Institute 7. Forest Facts, UN-REDD Programme 8. Global emergence of infectious diseases, FAO Design + illustration: Mike Rossi / micrografik.com Published: 2020
 GLOBAL CHALLENGES CARBON EMISSIONS

23%
In 2019,
EQUIVALENT
PRIMARY FOREST TO THE ANNUAL
A climate in crisis LOSS WAS LINKED TO EMISSIONS FROM
Despite clear scientific consensus, the landmark Paris Agreement, and a
youth-led global movement, the effects of global heating on ecosystems
and human health continue to rise. Since land is both a source and a sink
OF HUMAN-CAUSED
1.8 BILLION
TONNES MILLION
400
of greenhouse gases, nature-based solutions such as forest conservation, GREENHOUSE CARS.
GAS EMISSIONS OF CO2 EMISSIONS.
3
agroforestry, sustainable land management, and landscape restoration
offer a clear path forward – yet they receive only 3% of climate funding.
ARE FROM FORESTRY, DRAINED AND DAMAGED PEATLANDS
CLIMATE TARGETS
AGRICULTURE AND EMIT 1.3 BILLION TONNES
The 2016 Paris Agreement Based on current levels,
OTHER LAND USES.2
aims to limit the global
temperature increase to:
the world is tracking towards
a global temperature rise of: OF CO2 ANNUALLY.2
Land use change, such as clearing

1.5°C 3.2°C
forest to make way for farms, This is equivalent to 5.6% of global
drives these emissions. human-caused CO2 emissions.

Fires in Indonesian peat swamp

forests in 2015, emitted nearly
BY 2100 BY 21001 16 million tonnes of CO2 a day–
more than the daily emissions
from the entire US economy.4

CLIMATE VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTATION CARBON SINKS CLIMATE FINANCE

800 MILLION 75% OF THE PEATLANDS ARE THE By some estimates, reducing
emissions from deforestation and

PEOPLE ARE WORLD’S FOOD LARGEST NATURAL CARBON STORE, This exceeds the
forest degradation in developing
countries requires funding of around:

CURRENTLY VULNERABLE IS GENERATED FROM ONLY HOLDING OVER 550 BILLION4 amount of carbon
stored in all other US$15 BILLION
TO CLIMATE 12 PLANT AND 6 TONNES OF CARBON.
vegetation types,
including the
world’s forests.
PER YEAR.8
CHANGE IMPACTS  5 ANIMAL SPECIES. Agroforestry currently holds about 36 billion tonnes of Current level of funding available:
such as droughts, floods, sea-level This makes the global food system carbon, representing perhaps the highest potential for
rise, and extreme weather events.5 highly vulnerable to climate change. carbon neutrality within the agricultural sector.7 US$1-2 BILLION PER YEAR.
Sources: 1. Emissions Gap Report 2017, UN Environment 2. Special Report: Climate Change and Land, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 3. World Resources Institute (WRI) 4. Peatlands and Climate Change, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
5. Climate Change: 11 Facts you need to know, Conservation International 6. Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 7. Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) 8. The State of REDD+ Finance, Center for Global Development
Design + illustration: Mike Rossi / micrografik.com Published: 2020
 GLOBAL CHALLENGES

List of sources
Deforestation and
biodiversity loss A climate in crisis
1.  state of the world's forests 2020, Food and Agriculture
The 1. 
Emissions Gap Report 2017, UN Environment;
Organization of the United Nations (FAO); https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/
http://www.fao.org/state-of-forests/en/ handle/20.500.11822/22070/EGR_2017.
2. 
Rainforests, National Geographic; pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/ 2. 
Special Report: Climate Change and Land,
rain-forest/ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC);
3. 
Fact Sheet: Rainforest Animals, https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/summary-for-
Rainforest Action Network (RAN); policymakers/
https://www.ran.org/fact_sheet_rainforest_animals/ 3.  Lost a Football Pitch of Primary Rainforest Every 6
We
4. International
 Union for Conservation Seconds in 2019, World Resources Institute (WRI);
of Nature (IUCN) Redlist; https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/06/global-tree-cover-
https://nc.iucnredlist.org/redlist/content/attachment_ loss-data-2019
files/2020-2_RL_Stats_Table1b.pdf 4. 
Peatlands and Climate Change, International
5. 
Deforestation and forest degradation, IUCN; Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN);
https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/ https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/peatlands-
deforestation-and-forest-degradation and-climate-change
6.  Lost a Football Pitch of Primary Rainforest Every 6
We 5. 
Climate Change: 11 Facts you need to know,
Seconds in 2019, World Resources Institute; Conservation International;
https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/06/global-tree-cover- https://www.conservation.org/stories/11-climate-change-
loss-data-2019 facts-you-need-to-know
7. 
Forest Facts, UN-REDD Programme; 6. 
Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change, Food and
https://www.un-redd.org/forest-facts Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO);
http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6398e.pdf
8. 
Global emergence of infectious diseases: links with wild meat
consumption, ecosystem disruption, habitat degradation and 7. 
Climate change mitigation from agroforestry estimated,
biodiversity loss, FAO; Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS);
http://www.fao.org/3/ca9456en/CA9456EN.pdf https://ccafs.cgiar.org/fr/news/climate-change-mitigation-
agroforestry-quantified#.X0ftQtNKhTY
8. 
Marigold Norman and Smita Nakhooda, The State of REDD+
Finance, Center for Global Development;
https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/CGD-Norman-
Nakhooda-Climate-Forests-5-REDD-Finance.pdf