OT: Global Deforestation Rate Slows

[Guest guest]

Hey y'all,

 

As long as mankind's population continues to increase .. and economic

expectations climb up the ladder of the heirachy of needs .. we will

be faced with some tough decisions regarding mankind vs nature.

 

Interesting it is that its only the Amazon Rain Forest that gets a lot

of attention .. Rain Forests throughout Southeast Asia are also being

cut .. and as the below story tells .. 50% of the deforestation occurs

in Africa. The solution to the problem is not a complicated one but

its a difficult one to execute and to enforce .. reforestation .. and

not allowing slash-burn after cutting off older trees .. leaving

behind enough greenery for the forest to revitilize itself.

 

 

Global Deforestation Rate Slows

 

POSTED: 1741 GMT (0141 HKT), March 19, 2007

 

ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- An area of forest twice the size of Paris

disappears every day although the rate of global deforestation has

started to slow, according to a new United Nations report.

 

" Deforestation continues and it continues at an unacceptable rate,

however there are signs of potential change, " said Wulf Killmann, a

forestry expert at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which

published the report.

 

The destruction of forests not only reduces habitat available for

wildlife but also adds to the greenhouse effect because the carbon

stored in trees is released into the atmosphere.

 

Deforestation accounts for 18 percent of the carbon dioxide produced

each year, a significant proportion of the emissions scientists say

are causing global warming which also poses risks to forests via

increased fires and the spread of pests.

 

Demand for agricultural land is one of the main reasons that forests

continue to be erased at the rate of 13 million hectares a year, an

area about the size of England.

 

However, moves by some countries to replant forests has meant the

annual net loss has dropped from around 9 million hectares in the

1990s to 7.3 million, according to the " State of the World's Forests

2007 " report.

 

A huge tree planting programme in China, for example, more than offset

large-scale deforestation in other parts of Asia such as Indonesia, to

produce a net increase in the amount of forested land in the

Asia-Pacific region during the first five years of the decade.

 

China's economic boom has driven demand for wood and the country has

adopted a tree planting policy, not only to reduce its reliance on

imported timber, but also for soil protection, especially in areas

near the Gobi desert, Killmann said.

 

In Africa and Latin America, there are fewer positive signs.

 

Forested land in Latin America -- home to the Amazon -- fell to less

than half of the continent's area. By 2005, forests were estimated at

47 percent of the total land, from 51 in 1990.

 

More than half of global deforestation in the period 2000-2005

happened in Africa, the report said, underlining its conclusion that

poverty and war are major contributors to forest destruction.

 

Although economic growth often contributes to illegal logging, the FAO

concluded that development was, on the whole, beneficial to forests as

wealthier countries were more likely to establish conservation policies.

 

Citing the growth in forests in India and China, it concluded:

" Economic development appears to be a necessary condition for

deforestation to cease. "

 

Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.