 It's no secret that forests are the great mediators in the web of life on Earth, but forests play a crucial role in the sustainability of our planet. Forests represent the largest store of terrestrial carbon in the world. 77% of carbon stored in vegetation exists within forests and 39% of carbon stored in soil occurs underneath the forest cover. That's twice as much carbon as what's present in the atmosphere. The world's forests are able to absorb about a third of the carbon dioxide released from burnt fossil fuels. 1.6 billion rural people depend on forests to some extent. This includes a wide range of groups including Indigenous people, rural communities, small holder farmers and employees of forest-based enterprises. So people all over the world base their livelihoods around forests in some way. Forest industries provide formal employment to 0.4% of the global labour force contributing to nearly 1% of the global GDP in 2008. Forests play a huge role in maintaining our atmosphere and economy, so it's important we're able to harvest them sustainably. However, between 10 and 15% of global human-induced greenhouse gas emissions are released through deforestation and forest degradation, meaning careful management is required to ensure the limits of deforestation aren't tested. Forests contain an estimated 75% of all terrestrial plant and animal species, most of which are found in tropical forests. It's obvious how important forests are to a sustainable future, so let's make them a high priority when planning for it.