The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

From rainforests, to pine woods, to the boreal forests of the northern latitudes, forests blanket nearly one-third of Earth’s land mass. They harbor in their shady depths an astounding variety and abundance of life.

Forests renew the air we breathe and moderate our global climate by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it over the long term. They play a major role in recycling atmospheric moisture and stabilizing soils. Forests, quite simply, help sustain all life on Earth.

Forests are essential to the health and quality of life of people everywhere. They give us fiber, food, fuel and fresh water; in fact, about two-thirds of people worldwide depend for all or some of their water on supplies from forests. And more than 1 billion people living in extreme poverty around the world depend on forests for their livelihoods.