Quote:
Originally Posted by Timber Loftis
Or, maybe.... the more likely truth is that Brazil and other S. Am. countries cracked down on deforestation so as to avert catastrophe, at least to some degree.
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Not according to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 they didn't.
Let's at least put the blame where it belongs shall we?
Africa and S America (particularly Brazil) still show steadily declining forested acreage, and Australia has ratched up deforestation as well. Asia is a mixed bag. China shows an increase in forested acreage and SE Asia shows decreases in acreage.
North and Central America show a net increase in forested acreage from 2005 to 2010. That's primarily due to reforestation efforts in the US. Canada was neutral and Central America lost acreage.
Europe (primarily Russia) and Asia (predominantly China and India to a lesser extent) also showed increases in forested area due to reforestation efforts.
The whole report is here:
http://foris.fao.org/static/data/fra...indings-en.pdf
And all the charts are here:
http://www.fao.org/forestry/fra/62219/en/
Almost forgot, Africa, S. America and Asia use a significant portion of that timber for fuel. In Europe and N America it's ~80% for building materials