One Forest Summit | Expertise France mobilised to protect forests

Forests provide a number of services to humanity. They are called “ecosystem services”, meaning that they are a resource that needs to be protected and developed in a sustainable manner. Expertise France works with its partners to preserve forest ecosystems and integrate issues related to them in the policies and governance of countries.

Forest ecosystems allow the infiltration of water into the soil and the regulation of soil erosion. Forests play a crucial role in the water cycle, by slowing surface water runoff, helping to retain moisture in surface soils and supplying groundwater reserves.

Forests produce a number of traded goods, which are sources of income and employment. Wood is a raw material supplying the lumber, energy wood and paper industries. Forests are also a source of many other traded non-timber forest products.

In addition to wood production and all the uses derived from it, forests are the base for diverse food resources. It is estimated that the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people around the world directly or indirectly depend on forests.

Forest ecosystems also hold potential or exploited genetic and pharmaceutical resources. They are home to numerous species of flora, fauna, fungi and other known or unknown living organisms. Forest biodiversity is among the richest terrestrial biodiversity, but is still largely unknown, especially in tropical areas.

Finally, forests are a pillar of “cultural” services, places for recreation and tourism, providing educational, scientific, aesthetic, artistic, heritage and spiritual values. It is estimated that an area of 186 million hectares of forest worldwide is used for social services, such as recreational activities, tourism, training, research and conservation.

Forests are endangered ecosystems, despite the vital services they provide to people and the planet. Some 420 million hectares of forests have been lost worldwide through deforestation since 1990 (FRA 2020, FAO). Tropical rainforests and primary forests have been particularly affected. Since 2020, deforestation and the degradation of forests have continued at an alarming rate.

The loss of forests is due to diverse pressures which vary across the globe. They include:

• The conversion of forests into farmland. Certain industrial crops are more land-consuming (livestock farming, palm oil, soya, cocoa…).
• The overexploitation of forest resources for various uses (lumber, energy wood, paper industry…), as well as mining.
• The fragmentation and artificialisation of territories (urbanisation, road infrastructure…).
• Climate change and its consequences (higher incidence of megafires, droughts, extreme climate events…).
• The proliferation of invasive species, diseases, parasites and pests.

These pressures can be directly or indirectly related to anthropogenic factors. They are likely to lead to a total loss of forests or weaken their ecosystem functions (forest degradation). Expertise France helps improve the understanding of these threats to forests and develops solutions tailored to needs.

Expertise France supports the establishment of a governance conducive to sustainable and responsible action for forests. It promotes and facilitates the mobilisation of the necessary financial resources. It takes action at the local, national and regional levels, and includes local communities and indigenous knowledge. It helps build the capacities of authorities and field operators by:

• Providing specific technical expertise;
• Sharing experience among peers;
• Improving and sharing knowledge;
• Building networks among actors;
• Implementing collective experimentation;
• Supporting the initiatives of civil society organisations.