Deforestation
Deforestation is changing the global climate.

 
The Scale of Deforestation: Original vs Remaining Forest

Source: World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development 1999 (via Eric Bettelheim, SFM).

From World Resources Institute: The Last Frontier Forests: Ecosystems and Economies on the Edge Major Findings (via Eric Bettelheim, SFM)

Global Figures:

Original Forest (000Km2): 62,203
 
Total Remaining Forest (000 Km2): 33,363

Total Remaining as a % of Original Forest: 54%,

  • Almost half of Earth's original forest cover is gone, much of it destroyed within the past three decades.
  • Today, just one fifth of the world's original forest cover remains in large tracts of relatively undisturbed forest -- what WRI calls frontier forest.
  • Three countries -- Russia, Canada, and Brazil -- house almost 70 percent of the world's remaining frontier forest.
  • 40 percent of forest on Earth today qualifies as frontier forest.
  • Seventy-six countries assessed in this study have lost all of their frontier forest.
  • 39 percent of Earth's remaining frontier forest is threatened by logging, agricultural clearing, and other human activity.
  • Eleven countries -- including Finland, Sweden, Vietnam, Guatemala and Thailand -- are on the verge of losing their frontier forest. These countries maintain less than 5 percent of their original forest as frontier, and all of it is threatened.

Immediately related elementsHow this works
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Anthropogenic Climate Change »Anthropogenic Climate Change
Human impact on the Earth's climate? »Human impact on the Earth's climate?
Case for significant anthropogenic forcing is clear »Case for significant anthropogenic forcing is clear
Anthropogenic drivers of climate change? »Anthropogenic drivers of climate change?
Deforestation
Deforestation due to Biofuels »Deforestation due to Biofuels
Deforestation and it's environmental impact (LIB) »Deforestation and it's environmental impact (LIB)
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