What comes to mind when you think of a forest?
It probably depends on where you are in the world. Maybe it’s the deep, humid green of the Congolian rainforests, the snow-dusted pines of Finland, or the towering, mist-covered canopies of the Amazon.
No matter how vivid or varied your image may be, chances are, it lives up to a simple description: “a large area of land covered with trees and plants.”
But how exactly do you define a forest? There are hundreds of definitions used by governments, scientists and organizations, based on everything from land use and tree height to canopy density, species mix and legal status.
And these distinctions matter. They shape how we measure forests, acknowledging what’s lost and addressing how we can conserve them better.
One widely accepted standard comes from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which classifies forests into four major ecological zones: tropical, subtropical, temperate and boreal – each with its own unique landscapes and lifeforms.
There’s a common thread across all of these definitions and climatic domains: we are losing forests at an alarming rate.
Today, forests cover just under 30 percent of the world’s habitable land. While that might seem like a lot, it’s a shrinking figure.
At the end of the last ice age, 10,000 years ago, forests blanketed 57 percent of habitable land, or approximately 6 billion hectares. Now, only 4 billion hectares remain, meaning we’ve lost one-third of our forests – an area twice the size of the United States.
Disturbingly, half of this loss occurred in the past century alone, equaling the deforestation of the previous 9,000 years combined. And the primary driver isn’t urban expansion – cities occupy just 1 percent of habitable land – but our food production systems, including agriculture and livestock farming.
In other words, what we eat has a far bigger impact than where we live.
Globally, we deforest around 10 million hectares every year – an area the size of South Korea.
The good news is that around half of this deforestation is offset by regrowth, so overall, we lose around 5 million hectares each year. The bad news is that 95 percent of deforestation occurs in the tropics, where forests are home to a vast array of biodiversity.
But forests matter. And after decades of research and advocacy, they’re finally at the forefront of solutions to global challenges. They regulate the climate, purify our air and water and provide a home for more than two-thirds of all land-based plants and animals.
When we care for forests, we help fight the climate crisis, protect biodiversity and support communities who depend on them.
Forests are more than just trees. They’re living, breathing ecosystems that protect the countless forms of life within them and sustain life across the entire planet.
And those who protect them are not only defending landscapes – they’re defending our collective future. In standing against deforestation driven by the quest for profit, they’re safeguarding the air we breathe, the water we drink and the climate we depend on.
They are protectors of life itself – the quiet heroes on the frontlines of one of the most critical struggles of our time.
From Indigenous leaders and local stewards to scientists, AI data analysts and policymakers, here are 10 forest heroes fighting to preserve these essential and irreplaceable ecosystems.
Célia Xakriabá is a teacher and Indigenous activist of the Xakriabá people in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. In 2022, she became the first Indigenous woman to be elected as a federal deputy for Minas Gerais.
Xakriabá is part of the Rosalino Gomes Articulation and co-founder of the National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestrality (ANMIGA).
This year, she features as one of our 8 women with a new vision for Earth. Read her full story here.
Shaik Imran Hussain Choudhary is a young agriculturist and the founder of Prakheti Agrologics, an agroecology startup focused on promoting agrobiodiversity, sustainable farming, and land restoration in India.
Imran’s work bridges ecological restoration with economic sustainability, helping smallholder farmers adapt to the climate crisis while preserving biodiversity.
Imran is a 2025 GLF Forest Restoration Steward and currently serves as a youth consultant representing YOUNGO at FAO. He is also part of the YPARD Policy Working Group and the steering committee of the Youth Food Lab at the World Food Forum.
Alice de Moraes Amorim Vogas is head of the Extraordinary Advisory Unit for COP30 at the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. She has more than a decade of experience in the field of international and sustainable development, working with civil society, academia and philanthropy.
Vogas previously served as a Humboldt Chancellor Fellow, senior climate lead at WINGS, director of partnerships and communications of iCS and chairwoman of Foundations 20.
Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo is the director of the United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat (UNFFS). With over 30 years of experience in international development across Africa, Latin America and Canada, she focuses on environmental sustainability, community livelihoods, and gender equality.
As West Africa’s first female forester, Biao was a trailblazer for participatory protected area management. She has previously served as director and regional representative for Africa at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and held leadership roles at Canadian Crossroads International, the Centre for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
In her native Benin, she served as minister of environment and nature protection and acting minister of family and the child.
Johan Rockström is the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, professor in Earth system science at the University of Potsdam and professor in water systems and global sustainability at Stockholm University.
Rockström is an internationally recognized scientist on global sustainability issues and led the development of the planetary boundaries framework. He has over 25 years of experience in applied water research in tropical regions and more than 150 research publications in fields ranging from applied land and water management to global sustainability.
Éliane Ubalijoro is the chief executive officer of the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and Director General of ICRAF.
An accomplished leader with a background in agriculture and molecular genetics, she serves on several boards and has been recognized for outstanding contributions to innovation, gender equity and sustainable prosperity creation. She has been a professor of practice for public-private sector partnerships at McGill University since 2008.
Ubalijoro is a member of Rwanda’s National Science and Technology Council and Presidential Advisory Council, the Impact Advisory Board of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet, the Science for Africa Foundation and the Capitals Coalition Supervisory Board, among others. She is also a fellow of the International Science Council.
Subhra Bhattacharjee is the director general of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). She has over 23 years of experience in sustainable development, particularly in climate, environment and poverty alleviation.
Her diverse roles have included senior positions in central banking, academia, and the United Nations, working in Bahrain, Bangladesh, Germany, the occupied Palestinian territory, the U.S. and India.
Bhattacharjee is another of our 8 women with a new vision for Earth this year. Read her full story here.
Caroline Busse is a geospatial data scientist with experience in nature conservation and land use change monitoring at WWF, the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and tech companies such as Celonis and Deloitte.
Busse is the co-founder and CEO of Nadar, a satellite analytics company specializing in precision satellite analytics. Nadar enables businesses to measure the carbon impact of their projects through monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) and ensure deforestation-free sourcing in global supply chains.
Hege Ragnhildstveit is the acting director and senior adviser at Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI). She has more than 20 years of experience in rainforest protection, forest governance, Indigenous rights, deforestation-free supply chains and REDD+.
Ragnhildstveit has worked with Indonesia, Brazil, Guyana and Ethiopia to support their national plans for reduced deforestation and green growth, as well as on initiatives to eradicate deforestation and rights violations in supply chains and create stronger demand-side measures. She also serves as chair of the Programme Committee for the Oslo Tropical Forest Forum.
Garo Batmanian is a Brazilian biologist and ecologist with over three decades of experience in natural resource conservation and management. Since 2023, he has served as director general of the Brazilian Forest Service (SFB) under the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.
In this role, he has been instrumental in initiatives such as the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), a proposed USD 125 billion global fund aimed at protecting tropical forests in over 80 countries.
The next decade will be crucial for the future of our forests. That’s why we’re hosting two upcoming events that will bring together these forest heroes and many more to explore how we can save them before it’s too late.
Join us on 24 and 25 April online or in Bonn, Germany, along with 1,600+ experts, scientists, practitioners, policymakers and grassroots leaders from around the world, as we lay the foundations for a resilient, productive and just future for forests.
Ahead of COP30, we will discuss what concrete actions are needed over the next decade to protect the world’s forests, building on 30 years of CIFOR-ICRAF research and findings.
GLF Forests 2025 is free to attend online. Tickets are available now.
On 27 May, we’ll be hosting another event, this time at the International Model Forest Network (IMFN) Global Forum 2025. At Forests, People, Planet, find out how collaborative stewardship and innovative financing can build the restoration economy we need.
Don’t miss the chance to connect with forest champions and help shape the next decade of forest conservation. Register now for free!
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