Threats and Concerns

By 1997, eighty per cent of the forests that originally covered the Earth have been cleared, fragmented or otherwise degraded. Most of the remaining forest is mostly located in the Amazon Basin, Canada, Central Africa, Southeast Asia and the Russian Federation.

These large blocks of ecologically-intact natural forest are valuable because they are home to indigenous cultures, shelter global biodiversity, provide ecosystem services, store carbon, contribute to local and national economic growth, and meet recreational needs. In spite of this, logging, mining and other large-scale development projects threaten 39 per cent of the remaining natural forests, with those in South and Central America, western North America and the boreal regions of the Russian Federation being most at risk.

A growing realization of the scale of loss and degradation of forests has mobilized media attention and public concern, changed policies, legislation and institutional arrangements, and focused local, national and international efforts on promoting sustainable forest management.

Despite increased public awareness and a large number of initiatives, deforestation is still continuing in most of Africa, Latin America, and Asia and the Pacific. During 1980-90 alone, the Latin American region lost 62 million hectares (6.0 per cent) of its natural forest, which was the largest loss in the world during those years, with a further 5.8 million hectares a year lost during 1990-95.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) contributes to the fight against deforestation by encouraging forest conservation as well as supporting tree planting activities. UNEP does this by holding tree planting ceremonies to mark important visits and partnerships as well as to celebrate UN days, organizing tree planting campaigns. Today, tree planting occurs in many regions around the world.