June 22
World Rainforest Day
The first World Rainforest Day was celebrated on 22 June 2017 and was established by the Rainforest Partnership in an effort to raise awareness and support action to protect the world's rainforests.
The theme of this year's World Rainforest Day highlights the critical work needed to be done to ensure the long-term health of rainforests. Restoration and regeneration can take many forms, from active tree planting to creating new economic and agricultural systems centered around nature. It requires the involvement of every sector and individual worldwide to enable effective and sustainable protection, restoration, and regeneration efforts. Currently, 80% of the world's rainforests have been destroyed, and the remaining forests are seriously threatened by industrial logging. This destruction not only leads to the extinction of many species but also contributes to climate change. There are only seven major continuous rainforest areas left on Earth, with the Amazon rainforest being the largest and the most rapidly disappearing. If no significant changes occur, tropical rainforests could completely disappear by the middle of the 21st century.