Forest conservation: 11 facts you need to know

Protecting and restoring natural ecosystems, such as old-growth forests, could provide a third of the global action needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Many disease-battling medicines sold worldwide are derived directly from plants found in rainforests — from the cancer drug vincristine to quinine, which is used to treat malaria.

Forests are “living filters” for rivers and streams — absorbing sediments and storing and transforming excess nutrients and pollutants. They can reduce nitrogen and phosphorous concentrations by up to 99 percent.

An estimated 350 million people around the world depend on forests for their livelihoods — more than the population of the United States.

Indigenous peoples manage or have rights over about 40 percent of all terrestrial protected areas and ecologically intact landscapes — and their lands have lower rates of deforestation and fire than other protected areas.

Five countries — Brazil, Canada, China, Russia and the United States — are home to more than half of the world’s forests.

Globally, forests are getting younger and shorter as large, old trees die faster than they used to. This limits the amount of carbon these ecosystems can store.

In the United States, there are up to 52 million hectares (127 million acres) of previously forested land that, if restored, could capture 314 million tons of carbon dioxide — equivalent to removing 67 million cars from the road each year.