A tree is often the symbol used to represent the environmental movement. In fact, we adopted the color green, the plant’s color, as the main adjective to define general environmentalism. Why is the forest such an important element for the environment? There are many reasons why we benefit from forests and there are obviously many consequences that stem from the loss of 13 million hectares of forest every year.
Forests stabilize the climate in general. The plants enrich the soil by recycling the nutrients through the shedding of leaves and seeds. They also regulate the water cycle by absorbing and redistributing rainwater quite equally to every species living within its range, which is known as the economy of water. Overall, forests provide perfect habitats for life to flourish on land. They actually contain most of the living species, particularly in the case of tropical forests where up to 90% of the planet’s species live. Tropical forests possess the highest level of biodiversity and therefore provide the biggest genes reservoir.