THE VITALITY OF FORESTS

The report argues that forests are vital to human health through three primary functions: provisioning (food, water, medicinal plants), prevention (reducing zoonotic spillover and buffering natural hazards), and healing (reducing risks of noncommunicable diseases). It highlights how deforestation and degradation trigger negative health cascades, such as increased disease spillover and higher exposure to pollution and extreme heat. The document advocates for a systems approach to forest conservation, integrating public health and environmental sectors to protect intact forests, improve working land management, diversify restoration, and create urban forests.

• Forests provide critical provisioning functions by supplying food, medicinal plants, and water, acting as a nutritional safety net for approximately 1.6 billion people who depend directly on them for livelihoods.
• Deforestation increases the risk of zoonotic infectious disease spillover by fragmenting habitats, which brings humans and wildlife into closer contact and reduces the 'dilution effect' provided by high biodiversity.
• Exposure to forest environments can reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) by improving immune system function and lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and stress hormones.
• Forests mitigate environmental pollution by filtering air and water; for example, a study in the contiguous United States estimated that pollution removed by trees in 2010 reduced human mortality by 850 incidences.
• Forests protect populations from physical hazards such as flooding, landslides, and extreme heat, with urban canopy cover of 40% or more providing the most significant cooling effects.
• There is a positive correlation between tree cover and dietary diversity for children in 21 African countries, particularly in households with limited market access.
• Research in West and Central Africa indicates that Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks are associated with forest loss and fragmentation, which increases contact between humans and infected wildlife.
• Deforestation is linked to increased malaria prevalence in several developing nations by creating favorable breeding sites for nonforest-dependent mosquito vectors.

APA

Beatty, C., Stevenson, M., Pacheco, P., Terrana, A., Folse, M., & Cody, A. (2022). THE VITALITY OF FORESTS. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/319/3peoo4s5i3_VoF.8.14.22.pdf

Chicago

Beatty, Craig, Martha Stevenson, Pablo Pacheco, Annika Terrana, Mandy Folse, and Aubrey Cody. THE VITALITY OF FORESTS. WWF International, 2022. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/319/3peoo4s5i3_VoF.8.14.22.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{beatty2022vitality, author = {Beatty, Craig and Stevenson, Martha and Pacheco, Pablo and Terrana, Annika and Folse, Mandy and Cody, Aubrey}, title = {{THE VITALITY OF FORESTS}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2022}, month = mar, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/319/3peoo4s5i3_VoF.8.14.22.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }