Five countries top deforestation list

Five African countries were among nations with the highest net loss of forests between 1990 and 2000, FAO said. The report, 'State of the World's Forests' contains findings based on FAO's Global Forest resources assessment for 2000. It warns that tropical countries continue to lose their forests at a very "high rate". The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the African countries on its critical list. Others are Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Myanmar and Mexico. "During the 1990s, the loss of natural forests was 16.1 million hectares (ha) per year, of which 15.2 million occurred in the tropics," FAO said. This corresponds to the annual losses of 0.4 percent globally and 0.8 percent in the tropics. "Deforestation was highest in Africa and South America," it noted. Of the 15.2 million ha of natural forest lost annually in the tropics, 14.2 million ha were converted to other land uses and 1.0 million ha were turned into forest plantations, FAO said. It noted that outside tropical countries, 0.9 million ha of natural forest were lost per year. According to FAO, the 1990s were marked by periods of severe drought, setting the stage for devastating wildfires in practically every corner of the world. "Hundreds of thousands to millions of hectares burn annually in West Africa, large areas of Africa south of the Equator, central Asia, southern South America and Australia," it said. The report noted, however, that the concept of sustainable forest management continued to gain momentum around the world. As of 2000, some 149 countries were involved in international initiatives to develop and implement criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, it said. [The full report is posted on http://www.fao.org/forestry/FO/SOFO/sofo-e.stm]