World Rainforest Day 2025: Towards Greener Environment

WORLD RAINFOREST DAY on June 22 is a wonderful opportunity to dive into the vibrant ecosystems of rainforests and discover the incredible diversity of life they support. As defined, rainforests consist of tall trees, mostly evergreen with a high amount of rainfall, many of the forests with six major forest types and 10 subtypes in Manipur may be included in the category. Hence, observation of Rainforest Day has its great significance in Manipur also.

Often described as the “Green lungs of Earth,” rainforests cover six per cent of the Earth’s surface, but housing a remarkable 50 per cent of terrestrial biodiversity is a crucial role in maintaining the ecological balance.

Both the International Day of Forest and Rainforest Day-2025 have a similar theme, “Forests and Food”, emphasizing the vital role the Rainforests play in food security, nutrition, livelihoods, fuel, income and employment while also supporting soil fertility, medicines and incredible biodiversity.

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Rainforest is one of the most powerful and cost-effective climate change mitigation instruments. There is a need to raise awareness of the crucial role played by the intricate ecosystems in maintaining the health of our planet and that of human survival.

Rainforests are indispensable for the health of ecosystems for sustaining global biodiversity, influencing climate patterns and generating the oxygen that is vital for all living beings on Earth.

Rainforests provide 20% of the oxygen and absorb 7.6 billion MT CO2 annually. They also supply freshwater and many food products such as coffee, spices and fruits, and stabilize climate patterns.

With increasing human demand, rainforests of the size of 40 football fields are lost every minute which is 78 million hectares every year with 15 billion trees.

Since 1980, the total rainforests area lost will be equivalent to the size of Europe. The common causes include logging, mining, farming, industrial development and land clearance for agriculture and farming.

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Wherever a field of rainforest is removed, the surrounding wildlife habitats and homes of indigenous peoples are disrupted. Deforestation can cause flooding, soil erosion, desertification and climate change. It also threatens our biodiversity and imperils our planet’s health.

Globally, deforestation results in an increase of 15 per cent of the total CO2 emissions – more than from all cars in the United States and China combined.

In this age of global warming, protecting and restoring rainforests is imperative. These pervasive forces have triggered a cascading effect of damaging repercussions across the globe, posing a serious threat to countless species that are found in rainforests.

Moreover, these activities have far-reaching implications, intensifying the global climate emergency. Rainforests also support jobs and economies through sectors like tourism and sustainable forestry.

Forests are home to more than three quarters of the world’s life on land. Forests occupy 31% of the world’s land surface absorbing 30% of all global carbon emissions.

Today, around 13% of the Earth’s land is covered with tropical forests. Fortunately, around 34% of the world’s forests are still primary forests consisting of native tree species without the disturbances from human activities and ecological processes.

Forests harbour most of Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity with the three components—ecosystem, species and genetic diversity. Forests provide habitats for about 80% of amphibians, 75% bird and 68% of mammal species.

About 60% of all vascular plants occur in tropical forests. A square kilometer of forest may be home to more than 1,000 species. An estimated 75 per cent of the 115 leading food crops globally – together representing 35% of global food production – benefit from pollination by animals and bees which live in forests.

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The global population is projected to reach 9.8 billion people by2050; this implies an increase in food demand of 46 per cent, thus increasing demand for land and will place huge pressure on rainforests.

Earth, with all its life, is our only home. With overconsumption and rapid population growth, unfortunately, our humanities are jeopardizing our future by trashing our living environment and exhausting resources.

Unprecedentedly, we face several pernicious environmental problems, such as Earth’s sixth mass extinction event and climate crisis.

Manipur with 17,418 sq km forest cover, including the trees outside forests, which is 78.01% of area has total carbon stock of178.72 million tons equivalent to 655.31 million tons of CO2 which is 2.51% of total forest carbon stock in the country though our geographical area is 0.7% only.

After its publication, the declaration “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice” sparked a warning tale about the global environment and climate. This research paper currently ranked 6th out of 9 million papers on the altmetric score gives mankind a wakeup call for environmental skeptics. Rainforests are termed as “World’s largest Pharmacy” since a quarter of all known natural medicines come from rainforests.

Rainforests are not being fully explored and there are likely millions of species of plants and animals to be discovered. We want to ensure a chance for our children to discover all undiscovered plants and animals before they disappear.

Rainforests are the source of everything, fantastic and useful from nature. Natural climate solutions like protecting and restoring forests could reverse global emissions by a third. Your efforts, together with the actions of others, emerges as a beacon of hope, inspiring global efforts to protect and restore these beautiful habitats, the rainforests, the soul of living beings.

The author is an Environmentalist, presently working as District Forest Officer, Chandel district, Manipur. The author can be reached at nmunall@yahoo.in.

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