Almost two-thirds of the planet’s original forests have already been destroyed, and if deforestation continues at present rates, there will be virtually no natural forests left in 50 years.
This is the alarming conclusion of the World Wildlife Fund in a report this month.
Of 8 billion hectares of forest covering the Earth 8,000 years ago, only 3 billion is left. About 17 million hectares of tropical forest are being slashed every year, and the loss is similar in the northerly forests in Canada, the U.S., Europe and Russia.
“What’s terrifying is that the pace of the destruction has accelerated enormously in the last five years and continues to accelerate,” said Francis Sullivan, director of the WWF’s forestry campaign in London, England.
Hardly any of the forest that remains is protected from development. Only 2 per cent in Europe and Russia, and less than 5 per cent in North America, Africa and Asia are protected.
The Asia-Pacific region has been worst culprit. It has lost 88 per cent of its forest. The countries with the worst records are El Salvador, Ghana, Madagasgar and Pakistan, which have less than 10 per cent of their original forest left. Brazil has the worst rate of annual deforestation in the world.
The WWF is calling on all countries to react by setting aside 10 per cent of their forests as protected by the year 2000.
