World's Primary Forests at Risk: Scientists Urge New Protections

It turns out that the world's primary forests may be more at risk than once thought. Scientists have taken a closer look at these forests and have found that only five percent of the world's pre-agricultural primary forest cover is now found in protected areas.

Primary forests are forests where there are no visible indications of human activities, especially industrial-scale land use, and ecological processes have not been significantly disrupted. These forests provide homes for an extraordinary richness of biodiversity. In fact, up to 57 percent of all tropical forest species depend on primary forest habitat.

The researchers analyzed primary forests across the world. In the end, they found that about 98 percent of primary forest can be found within 25 countries. About half of that is located in five developed countries: the U.S., Canada, Russia, Australia and New Zealand. In addition, these forests are threatened by industrial logging, mining, and agriculture.

"International negotiations are failing to halt the loss of the world's most important primary forests," said Brendan Mackey, one of the researchers, in a news release. "In the absence of specific policies for primary forest protection in biodiversity and climate change treaties, their unique biodiversity values and ecosystem services will continue to be lost in both developed and developing countries."

That's not all, either. The researchers identified four new actions that would provide a solid policy foundation for key international negotiations. Policy makers should recognize forests as a matter of global concern, incorporate primary forests into environmental accounting, prioritize the principle of avoided loss, and universally accept the important role of indigenous and community conserved areas.

The findings reveal the importance of protecting these primary forests. Not only that, but it shows that these forests are at risk.

The findings are published in the journal Conservation Letters.