Forests and Landscapes

Forests cover more than 30% of the Earth’s land area and deliver vital economic and environmental benefits. Sustainable forest management offers a powerful solution—generating employment and driving economic development in rural and underserved areas. The forest sector already employs 33 million people worldwide, and for every 100 jobs in this sector, an additional 73 jobs are supported across the broader economy. With 1.2 billion young people entering the workforce in emerging economies over the next decade and only 400 million jobs projected, the urgency to create meaningful employment has never been greater.

In rural and low-income regions, forests are lifelines—providing food, water, and fuel for 1.2 billion people in tropical countries. Investing in forests and landscapes creates opportunities where they’re needed most, while safeguarding ecosystems.

Beyond economic benefits, forests and landscapes provide essential services that underpin life and livelihoods. They clean the air, enrich soils, stabilize local rainfall patterns, and secure food and water—functions that communities everywhere depend on.

Looking ahead, forests and landscapes also offer smart development solutions for a rapidly urbanizing world. As countries urbanize, sustainably produced timber for construction can reduce carbon emissions while building domestic value chains. For example, replacing steel and concrete with timber in half of new buildings across Africa could cut 5–10 gigatons of CO₂ emissions by 2050—the equivalent of taking 1.2 to 2.3 billion cars off the road. Wood-based fibers can be used to replace plastics made from non-renewable materials.

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For decades, the World Bank has delivered economic, environmental, and social benefits through investments in forests and landscapes. With an active forest and landscape portfolio of US$10.8 billion, the World Bank supports a broad range of landscape solutions, from protecting the biodiversity of tropical basins to irrigating arid deserts and restoring mangroves to protect island states from unrelenting storm surges and other shocks. Funding from the International Development Association (IDA) represents 69% of the portfolio.

Job creation is central to the World Bank Group’s vision of creating a world free of poverty on a livable planet. Sustainable forest management and the associated product value chains play a vital role in this effort—unlocking the natural wealth of nations to drive employment in areas that need it most.

Through collaboration with public and private sectors, the institution is scaling investments in forests and landscapes to build sustainable forest economies. This approach focuses on:

Creating green jobs

• Restoring and conserving forest ecosystems
• Amplifying the voices of smallholders and forest-dependent communities
• Together, these efforts aim to harness forests as engines of opportunity—placing people and communities in emerging economies on the pathway to prosperity.

To accelerate investments and build forest economies in client countries, the World Bank Group hosts a number of global partnerships.

PROGREEN—a World Bank Group-led multi-donor trust fund—supports countries to invest in and sustainably manage their forests and landscapes. Active in 74 countries, the partnership is supported by Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

In October 2025, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved the World Bank Group’s role as interim secretariat host and trustee of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), for an initial period of three years. The Facility will allocate funds to tropical forest countries that maintain and increase forest cover. The Bank Group also hosts the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) and BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL).

Through these partnerships, the World Bank Group accelerates investments in forests and landscapes to build resilient, sustainable forest economies and deliver lasting benefits for people and the planet.

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