Indonesia's forests harbor 10 percent of the world's flowering plant species, 12 percent of the world's mammal species, 7.3 percent of world’s reptiles and amphibians and 17 percents of the world's bird species as well as the world's greatest diversity of palms. Those conditions have led Indonesia become one of the mega-biodiversity countries in the world. Indonesia’s forests are also important watersheds and provide livelihood for millions of people. Indonesia’s carbon-rich peat forests and land also serve as critical carbon stores for the planet.

Ironically, in the last 50 years, Indonesia has lost up to 40% of its forest cover. Major threats to Indonesia’s forest include unsustainable logging, forest conversion into plantations, and forest fires. Although people’s concern toward the environmental, social, and economic impact caused by deforestation have increased, yet forests continue to be lost at an “alarming” rate.. Uncontrolled deforestation forces animals to move out of the forest in search for food. Moreover, people and animals are increasingly coming into conflicts over living space and food.. Often, animals and people die ude to those conflicts. Deforestation now has become a public safety hazard.

Forest conservation in Indonesia has become WWF’s high priority of work since mid 1960s. Earlier projects undertaken by WWF-Indonesia primarily focused on forest conservation and endangered species protection efforts. WWF-Indonesia's approach now has been broadened as the conservation paradigm evolves over time. Field projects on forest protection have been conducted by integrating conservation and community empowerment activities. Moving beyond itsinitial focus on protected areas, WWF-Indonesia has also developed its scope of work; advocating sustainable forest and natural resource management policies at the national, provincial and district levels. WWF-Indonesia has conducted numbers of policy researches for instance research on trends in the international timber trade, the underlying causes of forest loss and degradation, and the links between trade, investment, and environmental issues. Those activites have allowed WWF to exert its influence in policy-making process.

WWF-Indonesia works to protect natural forests, help ensure management effectiveness of protected areas and sustainable management of production forests, facilitate sustainable land use planning and restoration of degraded forest in priority landscapes, and promote sustainable financing for conservation.