Shift focus from Trees to People who live on forests. Their well-being will ensure saving trees-FAO Report

UN’s World Forest Week: Forests habitats were home to an estimated 80% of global biodiversity. Report, “State of the World’s Forests (SOFO) 2014,  said that it was time for the sector to shift its focus from “trees to people”. Forests are fundamental to the survival of forest dwellers, including indigenous people.

Forests’ contributions ,direct and Indirect , to about 1.1% of the global economy. In employment terms, the formal sector provided 13.2 million jobs, while an estimated 41 million livelihoods were dependent on the informal sector.In 2011, it observed, about 10.9kg of edible non-wood forest products (NWFP) were consumed per capita globally.

As a fuel, it estimated that one-in-three of the world’s population depended on woodfuel for cooking, while 764 million people used woodfuel for boiling drinking water.

Forests are also important providers of ecosystem services,For example, they help to deliver clean water by protecting water sheds and water courses.

Source: www.bbc.com