The world's ancient forests are extremely diverse, including boreal, temperate and tropical forests, coniferous and broadleaf forests, rainforests and mangroves. Together they maintain environmental systems that are essential for life on Earth. They influence weather by controlling rainfall and evaporation of water from soil. They help stabilise the world's climate by storing large amounts of carbon that would otherwise contribute to climate change.

These forests also house around two-thirds of the world's land-based species of plants and animals. That's hundreds of thousands of different plants and animals, and literally millions of insects - their futures depend on the ancient forests.

The Amazon is thought to be the most diverse of these ecosystems supporting around 60,000 plant species, 1,000 bird species and more than 300 mammal species.

These ancient forests are also home to millions of forest people who depend on them for their survival - both physically and spiritually. The Brazilian Amazon alone is home to about 20 million people. But more than 87 human cultures have already been lost in Brazil.

Ten million hectares of ancient forest are being cleared or destroyed every year. In the next 10 to 20 years, the world looks set to lose thousands of species of plants and animals.

Many scientists believe that the world is facing the largest wave of extinctions since the disappearance of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. It is estimated that nearly 24 percent of mammals, 12 percent of birds and almost 14 percent of plants face extinction. Most of these extinctions will be due to habitat destruction; most of these habitats are ancient forests.

But the news is not all bad. There is a last chance to protect these forests and the life they support.

There are still around 1,350 million hectares of ancient forest around the world that remain undisturbed by large scale industrial activities. This sounds like a lot, after all, that's an area bigger than all of China. But in fact this is only seven percent of the Earth's land surface. Yet it is vital that we take action now to stop the destruction of our planet’s last ancient forests.

You can support Greenpeace’s fight for the forests by becoming a Forest Guardian and joining our campaign to save the world’s remaining ancient forests.