This article from MSNBC has some interesting information on the status of the world’s forests. I suggest you read the entire (brief) piece, but here are some of the items that stood out to me:

• Deforestation is primarily due to increasing the availability of arable land
• One half of the deforestation from 2000-2005 took place in Africa, “underlining [the report’s] conclusion that poverty and war are major contributors to deforestation.”
• There was a net increase of forested lands in the Asia-Pacific region as China’s tree planting policy help to offset massive deforestation in Indonesia and other countries in the region.
• By 2005, the percent of forested land in South America dipped below the 50% mark, now making up only 47% of the continent.

How did North America fare?

The United States reported an annual increase in forest area of 0.12 in the 1990s and 0.05 percent from 2000 to 2005. That increase, however, was accompanied by deforestation in Mexico, which reported a 0.52 percent decrease in the 1990s and a 0.40 percent decrease in wooded areas from 2000 to 2005. Canada reported no change during those periods.

The moral of this story? An area twice of the size of the city of Paris continues to disappears off the earth on a daily basis - An area that we cannot afford to lose in the face of climate change and increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

Perhaps glimmers of hope, like China’s tree planting policy will spread to other countries, and the rate can be slowed even further. However, with the recent emphasis on bio-fuels and the increased need for arable land, I think that we may be facing a tougher uphill climb in the next few decades.