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Forests underpin life on Earth, they cover around 30 per cent of the land surface and provide a habitat for most terrestrial plant and animal species.

On 21 March, forests, and their importance to planetary and human health, are recognized with the International Day of Forests. The day draws attention to the need to manage and protect forests.

This year, it is also the launch of a UN-REDD and a UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration campaign targeting urban consumers in China. The campaign aims to shift consumer behaviour away from rosewood to sustainably sourced wood products.

Rosewood, known for its dark red colour and dense bark, has traditionally been used to make furniture and is worth tens of thousands of dollars per cubic metre. Nearly all rosewood logs are sent to China, where rosewood furniture is hugely popular, generating unsustainable demand.

“Improved forest governance, trade and investments are important to address illegal logging, trafficking and other forms of forest crimes in the region,” said Mario Boccucci, Head of UN-REDD Secretariat. “An innovative UN-REDD initiative on sustainable forest trade in the Lower Mekong region (UN-REDD Lower Mekong Initiative) was developed to support progress on this issue.”

Forests feed rivers and supply drinking water to nearly half of the world’s largest cities. They also play a vital role in combatting climate change by soaking up 30 per cent of emissions from industry and fossil fuels. By reducing deforestation and forest degradation and promoting regrowth and restoration, global net emissions could be reduced by up to 30 per cent. Over the next decade, forests could provide as much as 50 per cent of the cost-effective mitigation available.

Yet, forests and the biodiversity they contain are under serious threat, much of it from conversion to agriculture land, often illegally. A 2020 report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) found that in the past 30 years, 420 million hectares of forest, an area greater than the size of India, had been lost through conversion to other land uses. Another 100 million hectares are at risk.

The report also found that deforestation and forest degradation is continuing at an alarming rate. It warned that the UN Sustainable Development Goals would not be met by 2030 unless dramatic changes occurred in the agroforestry, agribusiness and agriculture sectors.

As part of the Lower Mekong initiative, national behavioural change campaigns against forest crimes in Lower Mekong countries and China are being developed and implemented.

"Rosewood is the world's most trafficked endangered species by value, but it is also an integral part of Chinese culture,” said Emelyne Cheney, a Forests and Climate expert at UNEP. “Our campaign in China will highlight the danger of current purchasing habits for the longevity of this important symbol and embrace Chinese cultural heritage by promoting traditional-style furniture that uses sustainable, forest-friendly materials.”