Forest Losses Slowing Worldwide

 

The FAO says forests cover nearly 4 billion hectares, some 30 percent of the world’s land, with 10 countries accounting for two-thirds of all forest area—Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, Peru, Russia and the United States.

Some 32.5 million acres of forests are destroyed around the world each year, an area the size of Greece, although the net loss of trees has finally slowed thanks mainly to new plantations. The most exhaustive survey undertaken, covering 229 countries and territories, and taking into account plantations, landscape restoration and the natural expansion of some forests, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said the net loss of forest area between 2000-2005 was some 18.25 million acres a year against 22.25 million acres in the 1990-2000 period. FAO officials hailed the improvement in the net loss figure, saying China in particular had embarked on a major tree-growing program to provide timber for its construction boom and to tackle the process of deforestation.

Source: Reuters