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The importance of forests
Forests help maintain the balance of the atmosphere, purify the air, and are part of the water cycle. They nourish the biodiversity of wildlife and provide homes for indigenous communities that depend on forests for their livelihoods. 90% of plant and animal species living on the planet need forests to survive. They provide source of food, fuel, timber and many other ecosystem services that we depend on. However, the Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported that the world has lost nearly 100 million hectares of forests in the last 20 years.