One of the reasons the Rio Bravo forest has the FSC certificate is that it provides a safe haven for wildlife. A United Nations survey suggested that between 2 and 25% of all species in tropical forests (plant and animal) will die out in next 25-30 years.

If forest patches are too small, many species cannot survive. Even when a forest is just damaged or thinned, loss of food and nest sites and affect animals, and climbing plants and epiphytes lose their growing sites. Perhaps most at risk are the insects, millipedes and other small creatures which are very sensitive to small changes in their habitat.

Left:The Golden Lion Tamarin is just one of more than 170 animal species under threat in the Atlantic forest of Brazil.

Sumatra and Borneo are now the only places where Orangutans (pictured right) are found in the wild and their habitat is shrinking fast. Many have been killed by huge fires and others eaten by starving farmers whose crops have been wiped out.

Right: Orangutan illustrations © Bruce Pearson, taken from the Collins Guide to Rare Mammals