To meet pledges to save forests, spending must triple – UN report

Nations are not spending enough to ensure that the forests that cover nearly a third of the planet remain healthy, according to a new United Nations report.

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To meet various international climate, biodiversity and land restoration goals, annual global spending needs to triple to $300 billion by 2030, the report found.

Forests are the “quintessential definition of a public good,” because of the benefits they provide, said Gabriel Labbate, who leads the climate mitigation unit at the UN Environmental Program and is one of the lead authors of the analysis.

By providing habitat to more than 80 percent of all animals, plants and insects on land, healthy forests are key to sustaining life on Earth. They also help regulate weather patterns and the global climate.