Forest files.More than a decade of discussions on how to protect the world's forests has resulted in substantial changes in the way forests are managed. Policies and programmes to help promote sustainable forest management Sustainable forest management (SFM) is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. It is also the current culmination in a progression of basic forest management concepts preceded by Sustainable forestry and sustainable yield forestry have been devised and have taken hold in many countries. Forest loss is caused by a complex set of social and economic pressures. Among the major factors contributing to deforestation deforestation Process of clearing forests. Rates of deforestation are particularly high in the tropics, where the poor quality of the soil has led to the practice of routine clear-cutting to make new soil available for agricultural use. and forest degradation are: conversion of forests to farmland; poor forest management, including over-logging; forest fires This is a list of notorious forest fires: North America Year Size Name Area Notes 1825 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km²) Miramichi Fire New Brunswick Killed 160 people. ; and increased harvesting of wood fuels and other forest products for household use. Of the world's forests, 47% are in the tropics tropics, also called tropical zone or torrid zone, all the land and water of the earth situated between the Tropic of Cancer at lat. 23 1-2°N and the Tropic of Capricorn at lat. 23 1-2°S. , 33% in the boreal bo·re·al adj. 1. Of or relating to the north; northern. 2. Of or concerning the north wind. 3. Boreal zone (far north), 11% in the temperate zones and 9% in sub-tropical areas. * Forests cover about 30% of the worlds total land area. * Two thirds of forests are located in ten countries: the Russian Federation Russian Federation: see Russia. , Brazil, Canada, the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , China, Australia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Angola and Peru. * Wood is the primary source of fuel in the majority of developing countries. * It is estimated that 12% al the forests, or about 480 million hectares, are in protected area. * Forests are a major factor in climate change. Forest ecosystems contain more than half of all terrestrial carbon and account for about 80% of the exchange of carbon between terrestrial ecosystems arid the atmosphere. * The UN Forum on Forests is the main intergovernmental forum to formulate international forest policy, facilitate implementation of agreed action on forests, foster a common understanding of sustainable forest management and address international forest policy issues.
Change in forested land 1990-2000
(million ha)
Africa -52.6
Asia and the Pacific -7.7
Europe 9.3
North America 3.9
West Asia 0.0
Latin America and the Caribbean 46.7
World -93.9
UN Chronicle chart.
Source: UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Between 1990 and 1995, 56 million heactares of forests were lost, a net
loss of 65 million hectares in developing countries being partially
offset by an increase of nearly 9 million hectares in the developed
world.
Note: Table made from bar graph
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