In celebration of World Rainforest Day, we’re going to double the trees we plant for our growing community.
Why?
We lose an area the size of a football pitch every second to deforestation, which means we lose 10bn trees a year, the net loss is a country the size of Portugal.
But, all’s not lost.
It’s not too late to reverse climate change, by protecting our forests.
World Rainforest Day falls on the 22nd of June and has been set aside to help raise awareness and to help protect our rapidly declining rainforests. With the current rate of deforestation, it is estimated that the world’s rainforests will be completely gone by 2100, in the last 40 years alone a forest area the size of Europe has been destroyed.
Rainforests are crucial to our ecosystems and our planet and here are 10 facts that highlight the importance of protecting them;
- Rainforests are often called the “lungs of the Earth” because they produce about 20% of the world’s oxygen, despite covering less than 6% of the Earth’s land surface.
- The Amazon rainforest in South America is the largest in the world, covering approximately 5.5 million square kilometres (2.1 million square miles).
- It's estimated that rainforests are home to over half of the world’s plant and animal species, despite covering only a small portion of the planet.
- Forests help balance our ecosystem services; water regulation, carbon storage, and soil erosion prevention.
- Rainforests are a treasure trove of medicinal plants. Around 25% of modern medicines are derived from rainforest plants, including treatments for cancer, malaria, and heart disease.
- Forests are not only found on land but also underwater. Mangrove forests cover approximately 152,000 square kilometres (58,700 square miles), or 15% of our coastlines worldwide, providing essential habitat for over 75% of commercially caught fish species and protecting coastlines from erosion and storm damage.
- It's estimated that we lose an area the size of a football field every second to deforestation.
- Did you know the Victoria Amazonica water lily has giant leaves that can reach up to 3 meters (10 feet) in diameter and can support the weight of a small child?
Want to join our growing community and make a difference?
It’s as easy as 1, 2, Tree.
As a Top 5% B-Corp (which means trust and transparency) our frictionless in-the-moment solutions, enable all our small actions to make a big difference
When we see how many trees you have planted on these two days, we'll double them in your Impact Profile Forest. We are supporting World Rainforest Day by increasing the commitment to reforestation. Our community has already planted over 800,000 trees and we want to increase this over the next two days.
