A last chance to SAVE the world's ancient forests…

The world's ancient forests are truly diverse. They include boreal, temperate and tropical forests; coniferous and broad leaf forests; rainforests, dry forests and mangroves. Together, they maintain environmental systems that are essential for life on Earth.

Ancient forests are in crisis What is at stake?

They influence weather by controlling rainfall and evaporation of water from the soil. They help to stabilise the world's climate by storing large amounts of carbon that would otherwise contribute to global warming.

The forests are home to millions of forest people who depend on them for their survival, both physically and spiritually. These forests also house around two-thirds of the world's terrestrial species of plants and animals. That's hundreds of thousands of different plants and animals, and literally millions of insects, whose futures depend on the ancient forests.

These magnificent ancient forests are in crisis.

More than 87 human cultures have been lost in Brazil alone. In the next 10 to 20 years, the world looks set to lose thousands of species of plants and animals.

But there is a chance to SAVE these forests and to SAVE the people and species that depend on them. That chance will happen at the United Nations' Ancient Forest Summit in the Hague in April 2002.

…but we must act NOW

Around the world, there are still around 1,350 million hectares of ancient forest that remain undisturbed by large-scale industrial activities.

This sounds like a lot. It is, after all, an area bigger than all of China, and almost twice the size of Australia. But in fact this is only seven percent of the Earth's land surface, and it's only one-fifth of the forests' original size. Fifty-nine countries, from the UK to Mozambique, and from El Salvador to Greece, have lost all of their large, intact ancient forest. In many other places these forests stand on the brink of extinction.

Ancient tropical rainforest in Indonesia and Central Africa could be gone in a few decades if forest destruction continues at the current pace.

Many scientists believe that the world is facing the largest wave of extinctions since the disappearance of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. It is estimated that nearly 24 percent of mammals, 12 percent of birds and almost 14 percent of plants face extinction.

Most of these exinctions will be due to habitat destruction; most of these habitats are in ancient forests.

The outcome of the Ancient Forest Summit will determine the fate of the world's remaining ancient forests and the plants, animals and people they support.

In 1992, world governments met at the United Nations (UN) Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to address the global environmental crisis recognised by scientists and politicians around the world.

The largest environmental conference ever held, the RIO EARTH SUMMIT resulted in five separate agreements, including the legally binding Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

But ten years on, most of the 180 countries that formally committed to this convention have done little to live up their commitment to conserve the world's biological and cultural diversity.

In April 2002, these same world governments, the United Nations, will meet in the Hague, the Netherlands, to decide on an eight year plan for the ancient forests.

The outcome of this Ancient Forest Summit will determine the fate of the world's remaining ancient forests and of the plants, animals and people they support. In effect, these governments will be meeting to decide whether to SAVE or DELETE the ancient forests.