Vanishing green
It is estimated that around 8,000 years ago, more than six billion
hectares (around 40 per cent) of the Earth's surface was covered
by forests. Today, the figure has plummeted to a mere 3.6 billion
hectares. Every year, at least 14 million hectares are lost. Among
the hundreds of species that go extinct every year, an
overwhelming majority are found here. Unless governments enforce
strict measures to control logging activities and control forest
fires that are set to clear land, the Earth's canopy will continue
to shrink.
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Forest Cover
Half the world's remaining rainforests are
in the Amazon basin. They are fast shrinking faster than
forests elsewhere |
Deforestation Rate
Europe, Central Asia and high income
economies (USA and Australia) have recorded an increased
in forest area |
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Countries with
maximum forest loss
Forest fires continue to be one of the biggest threats to the world's forest. In Indonesia, some two million hectares of forest were torched in 1997 and 1998 |
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(Source: Down to Earth. 9 (14). 2000
Dec 15. Pp.58.)
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