International Day of Forests: Climate resilience in action
Today is International Day of Forests! Covering almost a third of the Earth’s land, forests contain over 80% of all land animals, insects and plant species, and are home for around 300 million people. Forests recycle the air we breathe, purify water, regulate rainfall and store carbon, making them a key player in the fight against climate change.
Worldwide, climate change is intensifying floods, droughts, heatwaves and fire, leading to degraded forest landscapes that negatively impact the biodiversity and communities that depend on them. But across our partnership, BirdLife Partners are showing how locally led, Nature-based Solutions can reduce risk and protect livelihoods, helping communities and ecosystems adapt.
The Forest Impact Accelerator was designed precisely for this purpose: to turn promising ideas into investable, durable solutions that strengthen climate resilience while conserving biodiversity and boosting local livelihoods.
What is the Forest Impact Accelerator?
Our Accelerator is like an incubator that supports early stage, locally led Sustainable Finance Initiatives (SFIs). From community enterprises and Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) to trust funds and high-integrity forest carbon projects, nature conservation and restoration become financially sustainable over the long term.
Partners receive tailored technical assistance, seed grants, peer learning, and investor matchmaking. The current five-year programme aims to help 23 SFIs progress through the pipeline, with 13 reaching full functionality. Together they are targeting one million hectares of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) and benefiting more than 200,000 people, including at least 30% women. Impact will be tracked through a Forest Impact Dashboard that will integrate local and global data to monitor climate, biodiversity, and social outcomes.
“On this International Day of Forests, we are celebrating the power of innovation to keep our forests standing. BirdLife’s Forest Impact Accelerator is transforming the future of conservation by unlocking sustainable finance, empowering local Partners, and scaling up solutions that protect over a million hectares of vital tropical forest while supporting the communities and biodiversity that depend on them. It proves that when we value forests for the life they sustain, we can secure them for generations to come.”
Christina Van Winkle, Forests Programme Officer at birdlife international