{"id":4606,"date":"2026-03-21T09:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T09:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/international-day-of-forests-forests-and-the-economy\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T10:55:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T10:55:28","slug":"international-day-of-forests-forests-and-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/international-day-of-forests-forests-and-the-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"International Day of Forests: forests and the economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Every year on 21 March<\/strong>, we celebrate International Day of Forests<\/strong>, this year under the theme “Forests and the Economy<\/em>“. The theme highlights the important role of forests in supporting the lives of billions of people around the world – as a source of raw materials, jobs and community development. Yet their role goes far beyond economic benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forests perform countless functions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Forests are extremely complex and diverse ecosystems that perform many key functions in the environment. They regulate the climate by fixing carbon, create microclimatic conditions, protect soils from erosion and landslides, and help maintain soil fertility. They are also important habitats for many species of plants, animals and fungi, helping to preserve biodiversity. They also have social and cultural value as places for recreation, relaxation and contact with nature, and are part of our natural heritage and identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forests also play a key role in the water cycle. They help to hold water in place, infiltrate it into the ground and gradually release it into watercourses, helping to regulate flows and conserve groundwater. This function is crucial for preventing floods and droughts and for maintaining water quality, which has a direct impact on people and other living organisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their value is therefore multifaceted, reflected in the stability of ecosystems, the quality of habitats and resilience to environmental change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Floodplain forests<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Among forest ecosystems, floodplain forests<\/strong> hold a special place. Growing along rivers and adapted to periodic flooding, they play a key role in regulating water regimes and reducing flood risk. They act as natural retention areas \u2014 slowing down and holding back high waters, filtering pollutants, and providing habitat for many species, including those that are rare or threatened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite their importance, floodplain forests are among the most threatened ecosystems. Many river systems have been regulated, river channels fortified and flood plains drained and built over or converted to farmland. Rivers have lost their natural spillways and floodplain forests have been greatly reduced or disappeared. Climate change is bringing more frequent and intense extreme weather events such as floods and droughts. Dammed rivers drain faster, increasing flood risk and reducing the natural water-holding capacity of the area. The loss of flood forests means the loss of a key natural buffer mechanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Healthy forests – resilient river ecosystems<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Within the LIFE2RIVERS project, we promote giving rivers more space and restoring natural processes to improve the condition of river and riparian ecosystems and strengthen the resilience of the landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Healthy forests are not something we can take for granted. They are the foundation of a stable environment, an essential part of the water system, and one of the most important investments in a safer, more resilient future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year on 21 March, we celebrate International Day of Forests, this year under the theme “Forests and the Economy“. The theme highlights the important role of forests in supporting the lives of billions of people around the world – as a source of raw materials, jobs and community development. Yet their role goes far […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-novice-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4606"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4609,"href":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4606\/revisions\/4609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/life2rivers.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}