''Forests for the 21st Century'' is a short video promoting and explaining the benefits of forest landscape restoration. In the last few centuries people have removed more than half of the world's forest cover.

Deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

is currently responsible for nearly 20 per cent of global

carbon emission Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and larg ...

s. This tide of deforestation can be reversed, but we can make a much greater impact if we also put back some of our lost forests. Planting more trees can lock up more carbon, improve the environment and people's lives. Many regions and countries have already restored much of their forest.

Summary

The film includes examples of successful restoration projects in the UK, at

Shinyanga Shinyanga, also known as Shinyanga Mji in the local Swahili language, is a city in northern Tanzania. The city is the location of the regional headquarters of Shinyanga Region as well as the district headquarters of Shinyanga Urban District. The ...

in northern

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

and in the

Miyun Miyun District () is situated in northeast Beijing. It has an area of and a population of 460,800 (2010 Census). Miyun District government seat is located in Gulou Subdistrict. History Miyun was one of the places where Warlord Feng Yuxiang s ...

area of China. New information indicates that there are many millions more

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s of lost forests and degraded lands that are suitable for restoration than previously estimated.GPFLR - A World of Opportunity
/ref> The extent of global opportunities for

forest restoration Forest restoration is defined as “actions to re-instate ecological processes, which accelerate recovery of forest structure, ecological functioning and biodiversity levels towards those typical of climax forest” i.e. the end-stage of natural ...

is illustrated in the video for the very first time. The 15 minute film was produced in November 2009 by the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

of Great Britain and the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

on behalf of the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration.

References

External links

* Reforestation Ecological restoration Documentary films about forests and trees Sponsored films 2009 films British documentary films Direct-to-video documentary films 2000s British films {{nature-documentary-film-stub