In December 2003 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) proclaimed 3 March each year as World Wildlife Day and this year the theme is "Forests and Livelihoods, Sustaining people and Planet”. Its aim is to highlight the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally, and particularly of Indigenous and local communities with historic ties to forested and forest-adjacent areas.

Local communities and especially Indigenous peoples and are at the forefront of the symbiotic relationship between the forests and ourselves as well as all the wildlife species and the ecosystem services the forests provide. Roughly 28% of the world’s land surface is currently managed by indigenous peoples, including some of the most ecologically intact forests on the planet. These spaces are not only central to their economic and personal well-being, but also to their cultural identities.

How Many People Live and Work in Forests?

Currently between 200 and 350 million people live adjacent to or within, forests around the world, relying on the various ecosystem provided by the forest and forest species for their livelihoods and to cover their most basic needs, including food, shelter, energy and medicines. 

Forests, forests species and the livelihoods that depend on them currently find themselves at the crossroads of the multiple planetary crises we currently face, from climate change, to biodiversity loss and the health, social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With the overexploitation of Earth’s natural resources by humankind, the habitats and ecosystems of all the various ecosystems within forests and their associated wildlife are putting the world’s biodiversity at risk. Nearly a quarter of all species are presently at risk of going extinct in the coming decades, and their demise would only speed up the disappearance of countless others, putting us in danger as well. Bees and Climate change being those most in the news at present. So go to https://www.wildlifeday.org/ to see how you can get involved and help save our beautiful planet.