We take the same innovative approach to the environment that we do with our products. We’re creating new solar energy projects to reduce our carbon footprint. We’re switching to greener materials to create safer products and manufacturing processes. We’re protecting working forests and making sure they are managed sustainably. We’re even creating a more mindful way to recycle devices using robots.
Despite their immense value, nearly half of the world’s forests have been lost. What’s worse, we’re cutting them down at greater rates each year to plant crops, graze cattle and generate income from timber and other forest products.
When forests are cleared, they emit CO2 back into the atmosphere and put humanity on a dangerous collision course with the worst of climate change. Deforestation accounts for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans — comparable to the emissions from all of the cars and trucks on Earth combined.
More than half of all tropical protected areas may be “empty forests” — containing trees but few animals as a result of overexploitation and uncontrolled hunting. As a result, animal species are in danger of extinction, tree species lose important seed dispersal, and local people lose an important supply of protein.
As you read this, you are breathing, and a forest helped make this possible. that is because forests are the lungs of the earth, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releasing oxygen that people need to survive. And forests influence goes even further: theu play a critical role in managing clouds, wind, humidity, air wuality and rainfall patters.
Carbon dioxide and other gases in earth's atmosphere trap the sun's heat. Too little carbon dioxide or too much of it, and the planet can't support life. forests help make sure the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is just right. over hundreds of millions of years, forests have perfected the ability to capture carbon dioxide - including much of the extra carbon generated by human activities
Nearly one in four people depends on forests for their livelihoods in some way. Each year, people trade more than US$ 300Billions worth of forest products like timber and fruirs. And many forests contain the key to new medical descoveries, with nature-based products accounting for about 42% of the revenue of the worlds top-selling pharmaceuticals
Forests are nature's water factories. They capture, store, purify, and then gradually release clean water to towns and cities located downstream. when forests are lost, these factories stop hummin. Erosion and sediment increases, water flows become more unreliable - leading to greater floods, periods of low water flow and threats to drinking supplies.