24 October 2023
The warming stripes, first created at Reading by Professor Ed Hawkins, has a new partner image to show the scale of the world’s environmental issues.
The Forest Stripes show the crisis facing our world’s forests in one striking image.
The Forest Stripes were created by environment charity WWF and based on the Climate Stripes, which have become a defining image of the reality of our warming planet.
The new image from WWF was made in collaboration with the University of Reading, University of Derby, and ZSL.
They show the average decline in population abundance of species that are strongly dependent on forests – a shocking 79% decrease from 1970 to 2018. Find out more here.
Professor Ed Hawkins, climate scientist at the University of Reading, said: “In my work as a climate scientist I’ve seen how human activity is having a lasting impact on the world’s forests.
“Keeping forests intact is critical to avoid even worse climate consequences, but they are fragile ecosystems which are easily damaged. This new image highlights the scale of the challenge we face, and I hope it will start conversations about our forests and what we can do to protect and restore them.”
Mary Gagen, Chief Advisor for Forests at WWF and Professor of Physical Geography at Swansea University, said: “The Climate Stripes changed the way we communicate about global warming, and started thousands of conversations. We want to start conversations about what’s happening to forests around the world too, and how they’re intrinsically linked with the climate and nature crisis. We know that when we lose and degrade our forests, there is a huge impact on the population of forest species, including species like gorillas, and on the climate because forests store so much carbon. We hope that the Forest Stripes help everyone realise the stark situation our forests face and encourages global leaders to take urgent action.”
The stripes launch alongside WWF’s new landmark report, Forest Pathways, which details for the first time the pathways needed to start meeting global forest goals and bring our forests back to life.
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