By Jude Njoku

The United Nations Environment Program, UNEP has launched its Forests in a Green Economy report. The launch which held in New Delhi, India and Nairobi Kenya as part of events to mark this year’s World Environment Day, WED, details the economic, environmental, health and social benefits of investing in forests and how better management of the ‘lungs of the Earth’ can help achieve sustainability for communities across the world.

The UN agency noted that today, over 1.6 billion people are dependent on forests for their livelihoods.

Rich in biodiversity, forests are also essential in supplying water to nearly half of the world’s largest cities. Yet despite such vital services, the world is losing its forests at an alarming rate, with some 5.2 million hectares being cut down each year.

UNEP’s Green Economy Report – launched last February – identified forests as one of ten key sectors which, with sufficient investment and enabling policies, can help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient green economy.

This latest report examines in greater detail how public and private investments, transfers between developed and developing countries and other financial models can help realize the full contribution of forests to the global economy, poverty eradication, health and the fight against climate change.

This year’s WED had as its theme “Forests: Nature at your service”.