The rainforests are keeping our planet alive. They’re home to half the world’s animal species, they provide us with freshwater, and are essential for keeping our climate stable.
Yet every second, one and a half hectares is lost, while each year, 78 million hectares of precious rainforest are destroyed.
That’s why World Rainforest Day has been created to take decisive action to combat deforestation, reduce the effects of climate change, and protect our rainforests for future generations.
World Rainforest Day Timeline
It is estimated that the rainforest likely forms during the Eocene era, following a reduction of tropical temperatures when the Amazon basin is formed.
Humans begin modifying rainforests
Humans are influencing the rainforests by living in them and modifying them throughout history.
World Rainforest Movement begins
This international initiative was started to strengthen the movement of people all over the world in defense and protection of the rainforests.
Rainforest Cafe opens
This jungle-themed restaurant opens its first location in Bloomington, Minnesota in the Mall of America.
First World Rainforest Day
Launched to create awareness about the plight of the rainforest and people who inhabit it, World Rainforest Day was created by the Rainforest Partnership.
How to Celebrate World Rainforest Day
Make a Difference
This is the perfect opportunity to take the burden off the branches of the rainforest and find ways to help protect the homes of its local wildlife and peoples.
Find an optimistic outlook on preserving the planet by sharing on your social media and blogging about how you can save the rainforest. You might get involved by donating or raising awareness of charities like the Rainforest Partnership, or participating in virtual events and networks.
Raise Awareness
You can even host a rainforest awareness day yourself by arranging an event that highlights the cause or contributes towards a rainforest protection charity.
If you’re not a fan of organizing events, why not participate in a sponsored run, climb, trek, or even walk to raise funds?
You can also search for registered tree planting charities, where you can sponsor the planting of a tree to give back to the rainforest.
If you’re trying to engage the kids, why not take advantage of the activity packs on the day’s website and distribute these to your friends and families for a day of fun-fuelled activities.
Make Eco-Friendly Choices
If you’re looking for the opportunity to make a lifestyle change, this day is also the chance to make eco-friendly choices to help save the future of our rainforest.
For instance, deforestation due to agriculture is a big part of the rainforest reduction. Why not work to reduce your food waste by making sure you’re only purchasing and using what you need? Buying goods from ethical companies that donate to the environment is also a sure-fire way to ensure its protection.
Encourage Sustainability
Helping your local wildlife is also an excellent way to sustain global biodiversity, and even help some migrating birds on their way home.
Plant insect-attracting flowers in your garden or balcony to share some love with our feathered friends as they fly back to their tropical climate. This day is the perfect opportunity to take many small steps or host one big event to show our appreciation for our rainforest.
Learn About World Rainforest Day
World Rainforest Day was first created in 2017 by the Rainforest Partnership.
They work with Indigenous Peoples living in rainforest environments and launch projects to help restore and regenerate healthy rainforests with local communities. The day is about raising awareness of the importance of the rainforest and what it does for us.
By coming together on the day, we can all take positive and hopeful action to protect the rainforest and preserve its lifespan as it has maintained our own lives for thousands of years.
There are hundreds of events, from within local communities to virtual events, education initiatives in schools, charity projects, and the hundreds of small actions we can take each day ourselves to protect the rainforest.
Whether you’re going solo in your rainforest approach or part of a group of friends, family members, or colleagues, you’ll be forming part of a community spanning the entire globe. The website has award-winning videos, educational material, and advice for people looking to protect the environment.
The Rainforest Partnership itself has many community-based projects in the Amazon, but the day itself is backed up by the involvement of over 70 global partners, from environmental advocates to media outlets, all striving for positive and affirmative action that preserves the rainforest.
The tagline for the event is “Because the World Can’t Wait”, a powerful statement and call to action for people worldwide.
History of World Rainforest Day
The key focus of the day is about remaining positive and focusing on what we can do to save the rainforest.
Our rainforests have sustained us for thousands of years, circulating oxygen, keeping local communities alive, absorbing carbon dioxide, and keeping our water fresh and clean.
The Rainforest Partnership has been spreading this optimistic message since 2007 when it launched to help protect biodiversity, Indigenous Peoples, and combat the effects of climate change.
The core focus of the Rainforest Partnership is to save the rainforest by working on rainforest-based community projects that create a positive impact on the local peoples and wildlife that rely on the rainforest each day.
Although their headquarters are based in Texas, they are primarily in the rainforest with their Latin American based team.
Why has the Rainforest Partnership been so successful? Because it’s partnered with organizations worldwide to create a unified response to deforestation.
As an affiliated member of the UN Economic and Social Council, they can consult and advise organizations and businesses across the world on sustainable and ecologically led practices.
But just how long has the rainforest been helping us out for? The Amazon rainforest has existed for around 60 million years, forming when the Atlantic Ocean had expanded enough to create a tropical climate in the Amazon basin.
Following the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, it is believed that a moister climate developed, leading to the expansion of the rainforest. Over millions of years, it is theorized that the rainforest might have suffered many reductions and expansions, caused by factors like expanding and contracting glaciers.
So why is the disappearance of the rainforest so dangerous this time around? The leading causes of deforestation include logging, mining, and industrial development, as well as the clearance of land for agriculture.
As more extensive areas are cleared for logging and pasture, more infrastructure is needed, leading to increased clearance to accommodate roads and large machinery.
As more and more rainforest is removed, the surrounding wildlife habitats and homes of Indigenous Peoples are also more significantly disrupted. The scale of deforestation can cause climate change, flooding, desertification, and soil erosion—all things which threaten our planet and our way of life.
Facts About World Rainforest Day
Rainforests Help Drive “Flying Rivers” of Atmospheric Moisture
In the Amazon and other tropical rainforests, trees pump so much water vapor into the air through evapotranspiration that they create “flying rivers” of moisture, feeding rainfall thousands of miles away.
Studies summarized in PLOS Climate and IPCC reports show that large parts of South America’s rainfall, including over major agricultural regions, is recycled several times as air masses pass over intact forest, so deforestation can weaken rainfall far beyond the forest itself.
Tropical Forests Store Carbon on the Same Scale as the Atmosphere
Peer‑reviewed syntheses estimate that tropical forests store on the order of hundreds of billions of tons of carbon, with around 360 petagrams (billion metric tons) in vegetation alone and roughly 800 petagrams when soils are included, comparable to the total carbon currently in the atmosphere as CO₂.
This means large‑scale loss or degradation of rainforests can significantly alter atmospheric greenhouse gas levels on human time scales.
Undisturbed Tropical Forests Have Been a Major Global Carbon Sink
Long‑term measurements from hundreds of tropical forest plots led by researchers such as the University of Leeds show that intact rainforests have historically absorbed more carbon than they emit, removing billions of tons of CO₂ from the air each year.
A global analysis cited by the World Resources Institute found that, from 2001 to 2019, the world’s forests absorbed about 16 billion metric tons of CO₂ annually while emitting 8.1 billion, leaving a net sink of 7.6 billion tons per year.
Parts of the Amazon Are Already Shifting from Carbon Sink to Source
Recent research summarized in climate and forest science reviews indicates that some heavily disturbed or drought‑stressed sections of the Amazon rainforest now release more carbon than they absorb.
Heat waves, deforestation, and fires have weakened the forest’s capacity to store carbon, and observational studies cited by PLOS Climate warn that continued loss could push larger areas of tropical rainforest past a tipping point where they become persistent net carbon sources.
The Amazon Rainforest Has Existed in Some Form for Tens of Millions of Years
Geological and fossil evidence reviewed in the journal Science suggests that the Amazon Basin has supported tropical forest ecosystems since at least the early Cenozoic, roughly 50 to 60 million years ago.
Pollen records and sediment studies show that while the forest has expanded and contracted with climate shifts and Andean uplift, a rainforest of some kind has persisted over geological time scales, making it one of Earth’s oldest large continuous forest systems.
Indigenous Peoples Are Among the World’s Most Effective Forest Guardians
A World Bank review and UN‑affiliated analyses find that Indigenous peoples manage or have tenure rights to vast areas of high‑biodiversity forest and that deforestation rates in these territories are often equal to or lower than in strictly protected areas.
Their land‑use practices, customary law, and ecological knowledge have been shown to maintain forest cover and species richness more effectively than many externally imposed conservation schemes.
Around 40% of Intact Ecosystems and Protected Areas Are Under Indigenous Stewardship
Global assessments cited by conservation organizations report that Indigenous peoples steward roughly 40% of the planet’s terrestrial protected areas and remaining ecologically intact ecosystems, including large portions of tropical rainforests.
Although exact percentages vary by study and definition, this estimate underscores how central Indigenous territories are to safeguarding biodiversity and climate‑critical forests.
