Protecting vital
habitats

What are habitats?

A habitat is the natural environment where a particular plant or animal lives, shaped by conditions such as temperature, water, soil, and the other species around it. Habitats range from oceans, rivers, and wetlands to forests, grasslands, and deserts, each suited to the life it supports.

Connected together, habitats form ecosystems: self-sustaining systems in which living and non-living parts work as one to provide food, water, and shelter. Because they are so interdependent, damage to one habitat can ripple outward and weaken an entire ecosystem.

Read more: Where are the world's biodiversity hotspots?

Hippo in water habitat, Africa.

Why vital habitats matter

Healthy habitats are far more than scenery. They regulate the climate, purify our air and water, store carbon, and support the biodiversity that keeps natural systems working. The benefits flow directly to people too, from the pollination of crops and the replenishment of groundwater to protection against floods and storms.

When habitats are destroyed, those benefits unravel with them. Lost habitat is the single biggest driver of declining biodiversity worldwide, and its effects reach human life directly, through reduced crop yields, poorer water quality, and greater exposure to natural disasters. Protecting what remains, and restoring what has been damaged, keeps these life-supporting systems intact.

Read more: Impact of forests on biodiversity

Group of bonobos. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa.

What are the types of vital habitats?

Different types of vital habitats, such as forests, wetlands, coral reefs and grasslands, help support biodiversity and provide vital ecosystem services.

Mangrove forest.

• Forests Covering around 31% of the Earth's land, forests are among the planet's richest habitats and most important carbon sinks, home to a vast share of land-based species. They also purify air and water and protect soils from erosion.

• Grasslands: Covering roughly a quarter of the Earth's land, grasslands support distinctive wildlife such as bison, antelope, and countless pollinators, store large amounts of carbon in their soils, and underpin much of the world's grazing and agriculture.

• Wetlands: Marshes, swamps, peatlands, and mangroves filter water, buffer floods, and store carbon far out of proportion to their size. They are also the most threatened habitat of all: around 22% have been lost since 1970, and they are now disappearing three times faster than forests.

• Deserts and tundra: These extreme habitats hold specially adapted life, from desert plants and animals to the arctic foxes, caribou, and polar bears of the tundra. Both store carbon, including the vast reserves locked in tundra permafrost, and both are increasingly vulnerable to disturbance.
  
  
• Oceans and coasts: Oceans absorb and store huge amounts of carbon and regulate the global climate, while coastal habitats such as coral reefs, mangroves, and estuaries shelter marine life and protect shorelines from erosion and storms.

Read more: The importance of conserving Earth's wetlands for a sustainable future

• Rivers and lakes: Freshwater habitats supply drinking water, cycle nutrients, and control flooding, supporting fish, amphibians, and countless other species, as well as the communities that depend on them for water, food, and livelihoods.

The key threats

Most of the pressure on habitats is human-made, from the way we use land and sea to the wider effects of a changing environment. The main threats are closely connected, and often reinforce one another.

• Deforestation Clearing forests for timber, agriculture, and development destroys habitat on a massive scale, drives species from their homes, erodes soils, and releases stored carbon back into the atmosphere.

Read more: What are the effects of deforestation?

• Agriculture and land conversion: As land is cleared for crops and livestock, forests, wetlands, and grasslands are degraded or lost. Agriculture is one of the largest single pressures on natural habitats worldwide.

• Urbanisation: Expanding cities and infrastructure encroach on natural habitats, fragmenting them and reducing the space available for the wildlife that depends on them.

• Mining and pollution: Extracting minerals clears land and can contaminate soil and water, while pollution from farming, industry, and waste degrades habitats far beyond where it starts.

• Overfishing: Taking fish faster than populations can recover disrupts marine ecosystems, threatens other species, and can lead to the collapse of fisheries.

• Changing environmental conditions: Shifting temperatures and rainfall alter habitats faster than many species can adapt, pushing some beyond the conditions they need to survive and reshaping where different species can live.

• Natural disasters: Wildfires, floods, and storms can destroy habitats outright, washing away vegetation, eroding soils, and damaging fragile coastal systems such as mangroves and reefs. These events are part of nature, but changing environmental conditions are making them more frequent and severe, and healthy, intact habitats are among the best defences against them.

Read more: From the ground up to space: seeing Green Earth’s impact in Uganda

Planting a tree seedling in a garden.

How vital habitats are protected

The encouraging news is that habitats can recover, and a global framework exists to help them. International agreements set the direction: the Convention on Biological Diversity works to protect and restore habitats worldwide, the Ramsar Convention safeguards wetlands, and CITES regulates the trade in wild species that threatens so many of them.

On the ground, protection takes a few main forms, which work best together.

• Reforestation and restoration: replanting forests and rebuilding degraded wetlands and grasslands restores habitat, captures carbon, and brings ecosystem services back to life.
• Protected areas: national parks, reserves, and marine protected areas give habitats and species the space to recover free from pressure.
• Habitat connectivity: wildlife corridors and reconnected patches of habitat let species move, feed, and breed across fragmented landscapes, keeping populations healthy.
• Sustainable land and sea use: practices such as selective logging, sustainable fishing, and agroforestry allow people to use natural resources without destroying the habitats they depend on.

Read more: Why should endangered species be protected?

Young Siberian tiger hunting in the shallow water.

How Green Earth helps protect and restore vital habitats

At Green Earth, we recognise the vital role of forests and natural habitats in supporting biodiversity and providing essential ecosystem services. We manage large-scale reforestation and nature-restoration projects  around the world that restore and protect vital habitats so local biodiversity can thrive.

Our projects involve planting trees and promoting sustainable land-use practices. We work closely with local communities, governments, and other stakeholders to ensure that our projects are socially and environmentally responsible and that they provide tangible benefits to the people and ecosystems they serve. Our reforestation projects aim to ensure a sustainable and healthy planet for all life forms to thrive.