Our solutions: Forest Protection

Working for forest protected areas worldwide

We aim to …

* protect the most significant and threatened forests,
* ensure they are monitored and properly managed,

* guarantee that their ecological integrity is enhanced, and that they are increasingly self-sustaining.

By 2005, roughly 11%, or 420 million hectares, of the planet's forests were designated as protected areas. That's about half the size of the USA. These areas represent some of the great forests in places like the Amazon, the Congo, China, Indonesia and Russia.

A vision for forest Protected Areas

WWF aims to see another 75 million hectares of the world’s most outstanding forests brought under protection by 2010. We want to have all types of forests, from mangroves to dry forests, from Peru to Madagascar, represented within protected areas.
We are more than half way there: by 2004, with WWF's support, governments, local communities, indigenous peoples and the private sector have set aside an additional 42 million hectares of forest protected areas.

Following up on existing protected areas
But establishing forest protected areas alone is not enough. Too many protected areas are not being well cared for and poorly managed.
Protecting these forests and the biodiversity they hold means much more than the creation of a national park. It requires ongoing assessment of their management and ensuring the recommendations are implemented. To help in that effort, we have developed assessment methods like the Rapid Assessment and Prioritisation Methodology (RAPPAM) and the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool.


Forest connectivity for resilience
We are also working to create networks of forests, ensure that they are well maintained and that fragmented protected areas are connected through Forest Landscape Restoration projects. This will improve the forest's resilience, allow animals and plant life to interchange, and a healthier ecosystem to thrive.

This problem of movement is a real threat to the panda population in China, so we are developing forest 'corridors' so the pandas can move from one protected reserve to another.

Making self-sustaining protected areas a reality
All this takes funding. With organizations such as CARE and IIED (International Institute for Environment and Development), we are developing innovative financing schemes, one of which is Payment for Environmental Services or PES, to help more protected areas pay for their own upkeep.

This might mean, for example, that downstream beneficiaries of water cleansed by the forest pay a user fee, or tourists and trekkers pay to enter the forest.

While much has been achieved to protect the world’s most magnificent and important forests, WWF's Forests for Life Programme is committed to increasing the size and number of forest protected areas, ensuring that all types are represented, connecting them where possible, and managing them effectively.