Regional Secretariat for Agriculture and Food celebrates International Day of Forests - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Agricultura e Alimentação

International Day of Forests is being celebrated today, March 21, with various activities organised by the Regional Directorate for Forest Resources and Spatial Planning (DRRFOT).

These awareness-raising activities aim to highlight the importance of forest ecosystems on all the Azorean islands except Corvo and are organised in conjunction with schools, local authorities, environmental non-governmental organisations and companies. They will include the planting of endemic species produced by the forestry services' nurseries, hiking in nature areas, awareness-raising activities and visits to forestry dissemination centres, involving approximately 3,300 participants throughout the autonomous region.

Over the years, forests have been synonymous with human survival, fundamental as a supplier of food, shelter, fibres, wood and fuel for heating and energy.

With the progress of scientific knowledge in ecology in the last few decades of the past century, forests have gained prime importance through social recognition for their provision of ecosystem services, such as recreational and leisure purposes, carbon sequestration and storage, regulation of the hydrological cycle, conservation and biodiversity, pollination, soil protection, air purification and oxygen release. Moreover, they create jobs and generate income that contributes to the social and economic development of local populations, based on environmental responsibility principles.

The celebration of this day is an opportunity to reiterate the importance of forests as ecosystems that harbour an immense biodiversity of flora and fauna, in addition to playing a fundamental role in climate regulation.

However, forests are under threat from a variety of causes, most notably deforestation and forest degradation, which is the greatest current concern for governance worldwide.

Deforestation and forest degradation are advancing at an alarming rate around the world. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that every year we lose 10 million hectares of forest on the planet (EU Regulation 2023/1115).

According to the FAO (2024), we also lose about 340 million to 370 million hectares of the planet's surface to forest fires every year. These, in extreme cases, negatively affect sustainable development and generate large volumes of greenhouse gas emissions. Deforestation and forest degradation, major drivers of global warming and biodiversity loss, are the greatest environmental challenges of our time.

DRRFOT intends that these activities promote knowledge and awareness of forest-related issues so that the population can also be a pillar in the conservation and management of forest areas. With everyone's effort, we will be able to increase the resilience and adaptation of these spaces to the challenges of the coming decades.