Around the world, many forests are endangered by logging, development or disease. Around the world, conservationists hoping to save and protect forests use a one-stop website that tries to put a broad array of resources at their fingertips.
Forests.org is a portal with a longstanding commitment to forest conservation and a collection of 40,000 articles on the subject.
"We're trying to archive and circulate information that will save forests that we believe are necessary for sustainable development and human well-being," says Glen Barry president of forests.org. "I began using the Internet in 1989 while in Papua New Guinea. I was able to use it as a tool and quickly saw the potential to allow local efforts to conserve forests to have a more global audience. And the actual Internet site itself was unveiled in 1993, so we were one of the first 10,000 sites on the Internet."
One of the most valuable features of forests.org is an archive of 40,000 news stories, commentaries, press releases and other fully-searchable articles dating back to 1991 or earlier, related to forest conservation.
"So frequently, someone is trying to preserve forests in Cambodia, for example, and they're recreating the same knowledge that's already been done by other people," he explains. "So this is an attempt to archive and keep a chronological history of what people have done and what we know about the world's forests."
The site is thick with text and links, but not very glitzy or fancy. Glen Barry says that's deliberate. With 40 percent of the site's visitors coming from outside the United States, it's a recognition of the low-speed, often-expensive internet connections prevalent in much of the world. Also, he says, it reflects the serious purpose of a site designed for forest conservation professionals. To learn more, visit forests.org.