(Supported by Catholic Climate Covenant, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Citizens Climate Lobby)

Background:

Healthy forests support a healthy climate. 

Care for Creation is one of our 4-chapter themes. This means we have a commitment to act on issues of caring for creation.

The Forest Act is important because trees are like nature’s vacuum cleaner. They pull carbon out of the air, reducing the impacts of climate change. 

The world is currently losing 25 million acres of forest per year to deforestation. (Good news- We are working our way down from 40 million acres in the 1990’s.) 

One of the largest drivers of deforestation around the world is the expansion of commercial agriculture. Most of this land-clearing is illegal—creating a loss of nature, increasing the effects of climate change, and allowing corruption and crime to grow. 

The bipartisan FOREST Act, introduced in both chambers of Congress, would require companies to trace where products come from and confirm that they are legally produced. 

The conversion of native forests and other ecosystems often goes hand in hand with violations of human rights, threatening the territories, livelihoods, and lives of Indigenous peoples and local communities. 

Forests are essential for nature, climate, and people. 

This is why we ask Congress to support a healthy climate by protecting forests from illegal deforestation.