Deforestation

Forests cover approximately 30 percent of the planet. Yet, at the rate of deforestation today — over 18 million acres of forest annually — the world’s rainforests could be depleted in the next 100 years.¹ More than 1.6 billion people rely on resources generated from forests, such as food, shelter, clothing, water and medicine,² including the animal and plant products that make their homes in forests.³ Many pharmaceutical and medicinal products are made with the flora and fauna of the world’s forests, and advances in medicine and science are often made possible by high biodiversity.⁴ Seventeen percent of the Amazon Rainforest has been lost in the past 50 years.⁵