Overview

Tropical forests contain over half of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and act like a giant ‘eco- utility’ providing vital ecosystem services that underpin climate, water, food and energy security as well as human health and livelihoods from local to global scales. Currently, these services are unrecognised and unrewarded in international policy and financial frameworks, causing tropical forests to be worth more dead than alive. We need to develop and implement policy and financial mechanisms that recognise and reward the value of the ecosystem services that forests provide. The wellbeing and resilience of societies and economies will depend on our ability and success in maintaining a healthy and resilient tropical forest eco-utility.