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The world's forests are an asset of tremendous value.
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Primarily, because of their ability to capture
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and to store carbon.
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Forests also purify water and air,
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and they are home to diverse plant and animal species.
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And provide livelihoods for millions of people.
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Our very conservative estimate of their value
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ranges from 50 trillion to 150 trillion US dollars.
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That is more than the world's global oil reserve.
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In making our calculations,
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we considered forest's total value,
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not just the value of commercial activities like logging.
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We also measured forest's value
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in terms of climate regulation,
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environmental impact,
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and social impact.
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Forests are so important to climate change,
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that we attributed 65 to 90% of their value
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to the role they play in helping to regulate it.
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Forests store carbon on a massive scale
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and young growing forests absorb significant amounts
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of CO2 from the atmosphere.
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On the other hand, because of deforestation and decay,
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forests currently release more CO2 to the atmosphere,
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than they absorb.
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This effect will get even worse,
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if temperatures rise and forests dry out
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and then release even more CO2 to the atmosphere.
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Forests are disappearing at the rate
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of 40,000 soccer fields a day.
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If we don't act,
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in the next 30 years,
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forests could lose a third of their value.
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The biggest action we can take,
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is to restore and plant forests,
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and manage existing forests in a much more sustainable way.
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If we take immediate action now,
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we believe we could slow down the loss of forest value
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and reduce it to something like 10%
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in the next 30 years.
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Governments, NGOs, the private sector,
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and we as consumers, all need to play a part
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to avoid the most devastating effects
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of declining forests and forest values on climate change.