We must look after forests so they look after us

The text highlights a growing global disconnection from nature as urban populations increase, leading to a lack of awareness regarding the essential benefits of forests. It advocates for the integration of forest education into school curricula, the expansion of 'forest schools', and the improvement of professional forestry training to mitigate deforestation and support the Sustainable Development Goals.

• Increasing urbanization is contributing to a global disconnect from nature; over 50% of the global population currently lives in cities, a figure projected to reach 70% by 2050.
• Forests provide critical benefits essential for human existence and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, including biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and the fight against hunger and poverty.
• Early childhood education and the use of didactic materials are necessary to foster a culture of forest literacy; 'forest schools', which have been common in Scandinavia since the 1950s, are now being adopted globally.
• There is a need to upgrade education standards in rural vocational schools and forestry programmes to prepare professionals for the complex, cross-sectoral challenges of the 21st century.

APA

Mitsugi, H. (2019). We must look after forests so they look after us. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/we-must-look-after-forests-so-they-look-after-us/

Chicago

Mitsugi, Hiroto. We must look after forests so they look after us. World Economic Forum, 2019. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/we-must-look-after-forests-so-they-look-after-us/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Mitsugi |first1=Hiroto |title=We must look after forests so they look after us |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=21 March 2019 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/we-must-look-after-forests-so-they-look-after-us/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{mitsugi2019must, author = {Mitsugi, Hiroto}, title = {{We must look after forests so they look after us}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2019}, month = mar, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/we-must-look-after-forests-so-they-look-after-us/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }