Our solutions: Forest Protection
Working for forest protected areas worldwide
We aim to …
* protect the most significant and threatened forests,
* ensure they are monitored and properly managed,
* guarantee that their ecological integrity is enhanced, and that they are increasingly self-sustaining.
By 2005, roughly 11%, or 420 million hectares, of the planet's forests were designated as protected areas. That's about half the size of the USA. These areas represent some of the great forests in places like the Amazon, the Congo, China, Indonesia and Russia.
A vision for forest Protected Areas
WWF aims to see another 75 million hectares of the world’s most outstanding forests brought under protection by 2010. We want to have all types of forests, from mangroves to dry forests, from Peru to Madagascar, represented within protected areas.We are more than half way there: by 2004, with WWF's support, governments, local communities, indigenous peoples and the private sector have set aside an additional 42 million hectares of forest protected areas.
Following up on existing protected areas
But establishing forest protected areas alone is not enough. Too many protected areas are not being well cared for and poorly managed.
Protecting these forests and the biodiversity they hold means much more than the creation of a national park. It requires ongoing assessment of their management and ensuring the recommendations are implemented. To help in that effort, we have developed assessment methods like the Rapid Assessment and Prioritisation Methodology (RAPPAM) and the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool.
Forest connectivity for resilience
We are also working to create networks of forests, ensure that they are well maintained and that fragmented protected areas are connected through Forest Landscape Restoration projects. This will improve the forest's resilience, allow animals and plant life to interchange, and a healthier ecosystem to thrive.
This problem of movement is a real threat to the panda population in China, so we are developing forest 'corridors' so the pandas can move from one protected reserve to another.
Making self-sustaining protected areas a reality
All this takes funding. With organizations such as CARE and IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development), we are developing innovative financing schemes, one of which is Payment for Environmental Services or PES, to help more protected areas pay for their own upkeep.
This might mean, for example, that downstream beneficiaries of water cleansed by the forest pay a user fee, or tourists and trekkers pay to enter the forest.
While much has been achieved to protect the world’s most magnificent and important forests, WWF's Forests for Life Programme is committed to increasing the size and number of forest protected areas, ensuring that all types are represented, connecting them where possible, and managing them effectively.
News
28 Aug 2008
New hope for Sumatra’s elephants and tigers as Indonesia doubles size of key national park
Jakarta, Indonesia: The government of Indonesia today declared its commitment to enlarging the most suitable block of forest for Sumatran elephants, expanding the vital Tesso Nilo National Park on Sumatra island to 86,000 hectares.
New hope for Sumatra’s elephants and tigers as Indonesia doubles size of key national park
Jakarta, Indonesia: The government of Indonesia today declared its commitment to enlarging the most suitable block of forest for Sumatran elephants, expanding the vital Tesso Nilo National Park on Sumatra island to 86,000 hectares.
07 Aug 2008
Saving Sumatra’s Endangered Peoples
The Orang Rimba people have inhabited the jungles of Sumatra for centuries, traveling in tight-knit family groups in the Indonesian forests, hunting, fishing and collecting non-timber forest products on their traditional lands. Members of this indigenous tribe occasionally trade goods with villages on the edge of the forest, but prefer to keep to themselves. Now, as Sumatra’s forests disappear under the relentless onslaught of chainsaws and bulldozers, even keeping to themselves is becoming impossible.
Saving Sumatra’s Endangered Peoples
The Orang Rimba people have inhabited the jungles of Sumatra for centuries, traveling in tight-knit family groups in the Indonesian forests, hunting, fishing and collecting non-timber forest products on their traditional lands. Members of this indigenous tribe occasionally trade goods with villages on the edge of the forest, but prefer to keep to themselves. Now, as Sumatra’s forests disappear under the relentless onslaught of chainsaws and bulldozers, even keeping to themselves is becoming impossible.
Publications
24 May 2008
SafetyNet: Protected areas and poverty reduction
Jul 2007
Tracking progress in protected area management
30 Jun 2006
Food Stores: Using Protected Areas to Secure Crop Genetic Diversity
09 Feb 2006
Beyond Belief - Linking faiths and protected areas for biodiversity conservation
Protected areas in numbers
- 3,95 million hectares is the total area covered by forests in the world in 20051
- 11.2 per cent of the world's forest area is under protection in 2005 (421 million hectares designated primarily for biodiversity conservation)1
- 33 out of 105 of the world's largest cities obtain a significant proportion of their drinking water directly from protected areas2
- 23 per cent of the world's mammal species are vulnerable or in immediate danger of extinction3
1 FAO Global
2 Running Pure: The importance of forest protected areas to drinking water, WWF 2003
3 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Gifts to the Earth
What's in a Gift? Learn about how WWF recognizes major commitments from individuals, companies and governments , for the world's forests.
