TROPICAL RAINFORESTS: Deforestation

Deforestation Figures for Selected Countries



Countries

Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
American Samoa
Andorra
Angola
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Aruba
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bermuda
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Caribbean
Cayman Islands
Central African Republic
Central America
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Costa Rica
Cote díIvoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
DR Congo
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Falkland Islands
Fiji
Finland
France
French Guiana
French Polynesia
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Greenland
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guam
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jersey
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Martinique
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mayotte
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montserrat
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
Netherlands Antilles
New Caledonia
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Northern Mariana Islands
Norway
Oceania
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Palestine
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Pitcairn
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Reunion
Romania
Russia
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saint Helena
Saint Lucia
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia and Montenegro
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South America
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tokelau
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
United States of America
United States Virgin Islands
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Venezuela
Viet Nam
Vietnam
Virgin Islands
Western Sahara
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe


Deforestation figures and charts
Recent deforestation news articles
[from the deforestation blog]

Deforestation emissions should be shared between producer and consumer, argues study

(11/19/2009) Under the Kyoto Protocol the nation that produces carbon emission takes responsibility for them, but what about when the country is producing carbon-intensive goods for consumer demand beyond its borders? For example while China is now the world's highest carbon emitter, 50 percent of its growth over the last year was due to producing goods for wealthy countries like the EU and the United States which have, in a sense, outsourced their manufacturing emissions to China. A new study in Environmental Research Letters presents a possible model for making certain that both producer and consumer share responsibility for emissions in an area so far neglected by studies of this kind: deforestation and land-use change.


Oil palm workers still below poverty line, despite Minister's statements

(11/19/2009) On October 19th, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok told parliament that oil palm harvesters and rubber tappers are living above Malaysia's national poverty line, according to a story in the Malaysian Insider. But now representatives of the workers are saying Dompok lied.


Indonesian government suspends license of logging company in controversial forest area

(11/19/2009) The Indonesian government today temporarily suspended the license of Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Limited (APRIL) for developing an area of forest and peatland in Sumatra pending a review of the company's permits, reports Greenpeace.


Gibson Guitar under federal investigation for alleged use of illegal rainforest timber from Madagascar

(11/19/2009) Federal agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raided Gibson Guitar's factory Tuesday afternoon, due to concerns that the company had been using illegally harvested wood from Madagascar, reports the Nashville Post.


Pygmy hippo shot and killed in…Australia

(11/17/2009) Hunters going after pigs in Australia's Northwest Territories got a big surprise when they shot an animal they mistook for a pig, only to find out it was a pygmy hippopotamus, reports the Northwest Territory News.


Coastal habitats may sequester 50 times more carbon than tropical forests by area

(11/16/2009) Highly endangered coastal habitats are incredibly effective in sequestering carbon and locking it away in soil, according to a new paper in a report by the IUCN. The paper attests that coastal habitats—such as mangroves, sea grasses, and salt marhses—sequester as much as 50 times the amount of carbon in their soil per hectare as tropical forest. "The key difference between these coastal habitats and forests is that mangroves, seagrasses and the plants in salt marshes are extremely efficient at burying carbon in the sediment below them where it can stay for centuries or even millennia."


Brazil pledges to restrain emissions growth

(11/15/2009) In a move that some observers say could provide a path forward on a future climate agreement that includes emissions cuts in developing countries, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his country will aim to reduce emissions 14 to 19 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.


Finnish paper company to sever ties with logging firm linked to rainforest destruction in Indonesia

(11/13/2009) Finnish paper company UPM-Kymmene will stop buying paper pulp from Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Limited (APRIL) due to concerns over the company's poor environmental record, reports Greenpeace. UPM-Kymmene contact's represents 4 percent of APRIL's total pulp production, worth over US$55 million annually, according to the environmental group.


"Responsible" palm oil producers pledge not to develop endangered Sumatra rainforest

(11/13/2009) Members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an initiative developing criteria to improve the environmental performance of palm oil, agreed to declare the Bukit Tigapuluh Ecosystem in Sumatra a 'high conservation value area'. The decision, voted on by RSPO General Assembly members at the group's annual meeting earlier this month in Kuala Lumpur, effectively bans oil palm development of the endangered forest ecosystem by RSPO members.


Brazil releases official Amazon deforestation figures for 2009

(11/13/2009) Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell nearly 46 percent to the lowest annual loss on record in 2009, reported the Brazilian government Thursday.


Blackwashing by NGOs, greenwashing by corporations, threatens environmental progress

(11/12/2009) Misinformation campaigns by both corporations and environmental groups threaten to undermine efforts to conserve biodiversity and reduce environmental degradation, argues a new paper published in the journal Biotropica. Growing concerns over climate change and unsustainable resource extraction have put companies that exploit the environment in the spotlight. Some firms have responded by taking measures to reduce their environmental impact. Others have alternatively engaged in sophisticated marketing campaigns intended to mislead consumers on their environmental performance, maintaining that environmentally-destructive practices are instead benign. At the same time some activist groups have been guilty of exaggerating claims of environmental misconduct in order to boost support for their campaigns and therefore their fundraising efforts.


New report: boreal forests contain more carbon than tropical forest per hectare

(11/12/2009) A new report states that boreal forests store nearly twice as much carbon as tropical forests per hectare: a fact which researchers say should make the conservation of boreal forests as important as tropical in climate change negotiations. The report from the Canadian Boreal Initiative and the Boreal Songbird Initiative, entitled "The Carbon the World Forgot", estimates that the boreal forest—which survives in massive swathes across Alaska, Canada, Northern Europe, and Russia—stores 22 percent of all carbon on the earth's land surface. According to the study the boreal contains 703 gigatons of carbon, while the world's tropical forests contain 375 gigatons.


Declaration calls for more wilderness protected areas to combat global warming

(11/11/2009) Meeting this week in Merida, Mexico, the 9th World Wilderness Congress (WILD9) has released a declaration that calls for increasing wilderness protections in an effort to mitigate climate change. The declaration, which is signed by a number of influential organizations, argues that wilderness areas—both terrestrial and marine—act as carbon sinks, while preserving biodiversity and vital ecosystem services.


Palm oil developers push into Indonesia's last frontier: Papua

(11/10/2009) Oil palm developers in the Indonesian half of New Guinea are signing questionable deals that exploit local communities and put important forest ecosystems at risk, alleges a new report from Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Telapak.


40% of lowland forests in Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo cleared in 15 years

(11/10/2009) Forty percent of lowland forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) were cleared from 1990 to 2005, reports a new high resolution assessment of land cover change in Indonesia.


Hunting across Southeast Asia weakens forests' survival, An interview with Richard Corlett

(11/08/2009) A large flying fox eats a fruit ingesting its seeds. Flying over the tropical forests it eventually deposits the seeds at the base of another tree far from the first. One of these seeds takes root, sprouts, and in thirty years time a new tree waits for another flying fox to spread its speed. In the Southeast Asian tropics an astounding 80 percent of seeds are spread not by wind, but by animals: birds, bats, rodents, even elephants. But in a region where animals of all shapes and sizes are being wiped out by uncontrolled hunting and poaching—what will the forests of the future look like? This is the question that has long occupied Richard Corlett, professor of biological science at the National University of Singapore.


Developer uses cover of national holiday to clear rainforest near Colon, Panama

(11/06/2009) On Tuesday, November 3rd, while Panamanians celebrated Independence Day Holidays, heavy machinery unexpectedly entered and began cutting down tropical forest and mangroves near Galeta outside of Colon, Panama, report local sources. mongabay.com confirmed that the latest clearing has been carried out "almost in secret during national holidays so there would be no reaction from the public or the media." The clearing, conducted by a transportation cooperative called Serafin Niño, from Colon, is occurring in the buffer zone of the Galeta Protected Landscape and near Galeta Point Marine Laboratory, a facility of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The land will likely be used to store transportation equipment that moves cargo to and from the ports of Colon and the Free Zone.


Important safeguards to protect rainforests lacking in REDD negotiating text

(11/06/2009) Important safeguards to protect natural forests are still lacking in negotiating text on REDD, a proposed mechanism for mitigating climate change by paying developing countries to keep trees standing, reports an alliance of activist groups.


World's first video of the elusive and endangered bay cat

(11/05/2009) Rare, elusive, and endangered by habitat loss, the bay cat is one of the world's least studied wild cats. Several specimens of the cat were collected in the 19th and 20th Century, but a living cat wasn't even photographed until 1998. Now, researchers in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, have managed to capture the first film of the bay cat (Catopuma badia). Lasting seven seconds, the video shows the distinctly reddish-brown cat in its habitat.


Governments, public failing to save world's species

(11/04/2009) According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) 2008 report, released yesterday, 36 percent of the total species evaluated by the organization are threatened with extinction. If one adds the species classified as Near Threatened, the percentage jumps to 44 percent—nearly half.


House resolution condemns plunder of natural resources in Madagascar

(11/04/2009) A House of Representatives resolution introduced by Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) condemns the illegal plundering of natural resources in Madagascar, reports the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).


Photos: Palm oil threatens Borneo's rarest cats

(11/04/2009) Oil palm expansion is threatening Borneo's rarest wild cats, reports a new study based on three years of fieldwork and more than 17,000 camera trap nights. Studying cats in five locations—each with different environments—in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, researchers found that four of five cat species are threatened by habitat loss due to palm oil plantations. "No other place has a higher percentage of threatened wild cats!" Jim Sanderson, an expert on the world's small cats, told Mongabay.com. Pointing out that 80 percent of Borneo's cats face extinction, Sanderson said that "not one of these wild cats poses a direct threat to humans."


Conservation and Carbon in Borneo’s Heart and Ours

(11/04/2009) My friend Rezal Kusumaatmadja contacted me in July to ask if I could join him and some of his associates for a couple of days in the village Mendawai, located along the Katingan River in south central Kalimantan. The purpose of the gathering was to bring everyone in the group up to date on progress and challenges related to the Katingan Peat Conservation Project, as well as to give the group an opportunity to meet one another. The Katingan Project aims to create a forest-based carbon containment facility defined and guided by REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Destruction in the developing world) principles and methodology. Currently, nearly 25% of human-generated greenhouse gas emissions are caused by felling, burning and converting the world’s remaining primary forests. While areas surrounding the Katingan peat forest vividly express this statistic, Katingan is part of a growing strategy to reverse the trend. The Katingan project endeavors to transform conservation into a product that might offer strong competition against illegal logging and expansion of industrial agricultural plantations - whose practices cause enormous emissions of greenhouse gasses, as well as destroying biodiversity, depleting and polluting watersheds and corroding native cultures.


EU is 2nd largest source of peat emissions after Indonesia, finds global peat survey

(11/04/2009) The EU is the world's second largest source of carbon dioxide emissions from peatlands drainage, after Indonesia, reports the first country-by-country assessment of peat stocks. The study, conducted by Wetlands International and Greifswald University, found that drainage of wetlands for agriculture, forestry and peat extraction causes 1.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. Emissions from fires and peat mining (for horticulture and fuel) amount to another 700,000 million tons per year.


Non-Malaysian and Indonesian palm oil producers pledge not to develop peatlands for plantations

(11/04/2009) Palm oil producers outside of Malaysia and Indonesia pledged to stop developing new plantations on peatlands, circumventing an impasse that developed between palm oil producers and environmental groups meeting this week at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil in Kuala Lumpur. The factions deadlocked over plans to account for emissions from plantation development, delaying the criteria for a year.


Emissions from deforestation overestimated; 12% rather than 17%

(11/04/2009) Greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation are lower than previously believed, according to a new study published in Nature Geoscience. The findings mean that developing countries may see less money under Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, a proposed climate change mitigation mechanism.


Impasse over palm oil emissions at RSPO meeting

(11/04/2009) Environmentalists and palm oil producers meeting at the annual Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) were locked in an impasse over how to account for emissions from converting forests and peatlands to oil palm plantations, report conference attendees.


Gucci drops APP in pledge to save rainforests

(11/03/2009) One of the world's largest and most prestigious fashion brands has stated it will stop sourcing paper from Indonesian forests and will drop Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) as a supplier, which has become notorious for tropical deforestation. The move comes after pressure from the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) on the fashion industry to stop sourcing paper from threatened rainforests for their shopping bags.


Cement mining puts Dominican Republic park at risk

(11/01/2009) A cement mine, granted under questionable circumstances, is putting one the Caribbean's most important forest parks at risk, warns a group working to stop the project.


European companies not supporting 'greener' palm oil

(10/29/2009) Most European consumers of palm oil are failing to buy eco-certified palm oil, undermining efforts to encourage producers to reduce their impact on the environment, reports WWF.


Illegal logging trade from Myanmar to China slows, but doesn't stop

(10/28/2009) The illegal wood trade from Myanmar to China has slowed, but it still threatens Myanmar's tropical forests and species, according to a new report by Global Witness. From 2005 and 2008 improved border controls into China led to a drop in imports of logs and sawn wood by 70 percent.


Rosewood traffickers busted in Madagascar

(10/28/2009) Authorities in Madagascar have sacked a local official, arrested several businessmen, and issued fines following the discovery of illegally harvested rosewood logs aboard a ship, reports L'Express de Madagascar.


"Money is not a problem," palm oil CEO tells conservationists during speech defending the industry

(10/26/2009) Earlier this month at a colloquium to implement wildlife corridors for orangutans in the Malaysian state of Sabah, Dr. Yusof Basiron, the CEO of Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), told conservationists and primate experts that the palm oil industry was ready to fund reforestation efforts in the corridors. "We can raise the money to replant [the corridors] and keep contributing as a subsidy in the replanting process of this corridor for connecting forests," Basiron said in response to a question on how the palm oil industry will contribute. "Money is not a problem. The commitment is already there, the pressure is already very strong for this to be done, so it's just trying to get the thing into motion."


The faster, fiercer, and always surprising sloth, an interview with Bryson Voirin

(10/25/2009) Sloths sleep all day; they are always slow; and they are gentle animals. These are just some of the popular misconceptions that sloth-scientist and expert tree-climber, Bryson Voirin, is overturning. After growing up among the wild creatures of Florida, spending his high school years in Germany, and earning a Bachelors degree in biology and environment at the New College of Florida, Voirin found his calling. At the New College of Florida, Voirin "met Meg Lowman, the famous canopy pioneer who invented many of the tree climbing techniques everyone uses today."


Logged forests support biodiversity after 15 years of rehabilitation, but not if turned into plantations

(10/21/2009) With the world facing global warming and a biodiversity crisis, a new study shows that within 15 years logged forests—considered by many to be 'degraded'—can be managed in order to successfully fight both climate change and extinction.


Emotional call for palm oil industry to address environmental problems

(10/21/2009) During what was at times an emotional speech, Sabah's Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Environment, Datuk Masidi Manjun, called on the palm oil industry to stop polluting rivers and work with NGOs to save orangutans and other wildlife. He delivered the speech on the first day of an Orangutan Conservation Colloquium held in early October in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.


Kenya's pain, part two: decades of wildlife decline exacerbated by drought

(10/20/2009) Not many years ago if you were planning a trip to Africa to see wildlife, Kenya would be near the top of the list, if not number one. Then violent riots in late 2007 and early 2008 leaving a thousand dead tarnished the country's image abroad. When calm and stability returned, Kenya was again open for tourism, and it's true that most travelers were quick to forget: articles earlier this year announced that even with the global economic crisis Kenya was expecting tourism growth. However, a new disaster may not be so quickly overcome.


Business and conservation groups team up to conserve and better manage US's southern forests

(10/15/2009) A new project entitled Carbon Canopy brings together multiple stakeholders—from big business to conservation organizations to private landowners—in order to protect and better manage the United State's southern forests. The program intends to employ the emerging US forest carbon market to pay private forest owners for conservation and restoration efforts while making certain that all forest-use practices subscribes to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).


Forests versus oil palm plantations in Sumatra

(10/14/2009) A chainsaw chugs into life and tears into the trunk of a tree as tall as a two-story house. Petrol and man work together as the chain sets its teeth into the wood and edges its way through. The tree creaks, leans, and falls with a great crash to a backdrop of whoops and cheers. The sight and sound of tree felling is common in Indonesia, the country with the highest rate of deforestation in the world. The destruction of forests in this archipelago, draped like an emerald necklace across the equator, can be measured in hectares per minute. Today, though, is a good day for the conservationists.


Malayan tiger rescued from poacher's snare proves need for increased enforcement

(10/13/2009) Last week a Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni) was found with its front right paw caught in a snare set by poachers. World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Wildlife Protection Unit discovered the snared tiger in the Belum-Temengor forest, a wildlife-rich reserve that has become a hotspot for poaching. After finding the wounded tiger the anti-poaching team called in officials from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) who freed the great cat. The animal was then transported to Malacca Zoo for treatment.


Curtailing tropical deforestation vital to U.S. interests

(10/08/2009) Curtailing tropical deforestation is vital to U.S. national interests as a cost-effective means to slow climate change, argues a new report issued by the bipartisan Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests. Deforestation accounts for roughly one-sixth of global carbon dioxide emissions, more than the entire transportation sector.


Government decree sanctions trafficking of rainforest timber in Madagascar

(10/07/2009) A new decree by Madagascar's transitional government may fuel continued destruction of the country's tropical forests and biodiversity, warns a statement issued jointly by a dozen leading scientific and conservation groups.


Palm oil industry pledges wildlife corridors to save orangutans

(10/03/2009) In an unlikely—and perhaps tenuous—alliance, conservationists and the palm oil industry met this week to draw up plans to save Asia's last great ape, the orangutan. As if to underscore the colloquium's importance, delegates on arriving in the Malaysian State of Sabah found the capital covered in a thick and strange fog caused by the burning of rainforests and peat lands in neighboring Kalimantan. After two days of intensive meetings the colloquium adopted a resolution which included the acquisition of land for creating wildlife buffer zones of at least 100 meters along all major rivers, in addition to corridors for connecting forests. Researchers said such corridors were essential if orangutans were to have a future in Sabah.


Could agroforestry solve the biodiversity crisis and address poverty?, an interview with Shonil Bhagwat

(09/24/2009) With the world facing a variety of crises: climate change, food shortages, extreme poverty, and biodiversity loss, researchers are looking at ways to address more than one issue at once by revolutionizing sectors of society. One of the ideas is a transformation of agricultural practices from intensive chemical-dependent crops to mixing agriculture and forest, while relying on organic methods. The latter is known as agroforestry or land sharing—balancing the crop yields with biodiversity. Shonil Bhagwat, Director of MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management at the School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford, believes this philosophy could help the world tackle some of its biggest problems.


Will tropical trees survive climate change?, an interview with Kenneth J. Feeley

(09/24/2009) One of the most pressing issues in the conservation today is how climate change will affect tropical ecosystems. The short answer is: we don't know. Because of this, more and more scientists are looking at the probable impacts of a warmer world on the Earth's most vibrant and biodiverse ecosystems. Kenneth J. Feeley, tropical ecologist and new professor at Florida International University and the Center for Tropical Plant Conservation at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, is conducting groundbreaking research in the tropical forests of Peru on the migration of tree species due to climate change.


Roads are enablers of rainforest destruction

(09/24/2009) Chainsaws, bulldozers, and fires are tools of rainforest destruction, but roads are enablers. Roads link resources to markets, enabling loggers, farmers, ranchers, miners, and land speculators to convert remote forests into economic opportunities. But the ecological cost is high: 95 percent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon occurs within 50-kilometers of a road; in Africa, where logging roads are rapidly expanding across the Congo basin, the bulk of bushmeat hunting occurs near roads. In Laos and Sumatra, roads are opening last remnants of intact forests to logging, poaching, and plantation development. But roads also cause subtler impacts, fragmenting habitats, altering microclimates, creating highways for invasive species, blocking movement of wildlife, and claiming animals as roadkill. A new paper, published in Trends in Evolution and Ecology, reviews these and other impacts of roads on rainforests. Its conclusions don't bode well for the future of forests.


Palm oil both a leading threat to orangutans and a key source of jobs in Sumatra

(09/24/2009) Of the world's two species of orangutan, a great ape that shares 96 percent of man's genetic makeup, the Sumatran orangutan is considerably more endangered than its cousin in Borneo. Today there are believed to be fewer than 7,000 Sumatran orangutans in the wild, a consequence of the wildlife trade, hunting, and accelerating destruction of their native forest habitat by loggers, small-scale farmers, and agribusiness. Gunung Leuser National Park in North Sumatra is one of the last strongholds for the species, serving as a refuge among paper pulp concessions and rubber and oil palm plantations. While orangutans are relatively well protected in areas around tourist centers, they are affected by poorly regulated interactions with tourists, which have increased the risk of disease and resulted in high mortality rates among infants near tourist centers like Bukit Lawang. Further, orangutans that range outside the park or live in remote areas or on its margins face conflicts with developers, including loggers, who may or may not know about the existence of the park, and plantation workers, who may kill any orangutans they encounter in the fields. Working to improve the fate of orangutans that find their way into plantations and unprotected community areas is the Orangutan Information Center (OIC), a local NGO that collaborates with the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS).


Working to save the 'living dead' in the Atlantic Forest, an interview with Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes

(09/23/2009) The Atlantic Forest may very well be the most imperiled tropical ecosystem in the world: it is estimated that seven percent (or less) of the original forest remains. Lining the coast of Brazil, what is left of the forest is largely patches and fragments that are hemmed in by metropolises and monocultures. Yet, some areas are worse than others, such as the Pernambuco Endemism Centre, a region in the northeast that has largely been ignored by scientists and conservation efforts. Here, 98 percent of the forest is gone, and 70 percent of what remains are patches measuring less than 10 hectares. Due to this fragmentation all large mammals have gone regionally extinct and the small mammals are described by Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes, a professor and researcher at the Federal University of Pernambuco, as the 'living dead'.


Indonesia: emissions to rise 50% by 2030, 3rd largest GHG emitter

(09/22/2009) A report released by the Indonesian government shows the country is the world's third largest greenhouse gas emitter, largely as a result of the destruction of rainforests and carbon-dense peatlands. Indonesia accounts for 8 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.


Prince Charles making progress in effort to save rainforests, says leading British environmentalist

(09/22/2009) Prince Charles of Great Britain has emerged as one of the world’s highest-profile promoters of a scheme that could finally put an end to destruction of tropical rainforests. The Prince’s Rainforest Project, launched in 2007, is promoting awareness of the role deforestation plays in climate change—it accounts for nearly a fifth of greenhouse gas emissions. The project also publicizes the multitude of benefits tropical forests provide, including maintenance of rainfall, biodiversity, and sustainable livelihoods for millions of people. But the initiative goes beyond merely raising awareness. Prince Charles is using his considerable influence to bring political and business leaders together to devise and support a plan to provide emergency funding to save rainforests. Tony Juniper, one of Britain’s best-known environmentalists and Special Adviser to the project, spoke about Prince Charles' efforts in an interview with mongabay.com.


Fashion labels drop APP after party highlights the plight of Indonesian forests

(09/21/2009) The fashion world has been rocked: not by the newest designer or the most shocking outfit, but by the continuing destruction of forests in Indonesia. On September 15th, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) helped open New York City's styling Fashion Week with a party to encourage fashion designers to take a closer look at the paper bags they give customers.


Dangers for journalists who expose environmental issues

(09/19/2009) Guinean journalist Lai Baldé has been threatened. Egyptian blogger Tamer Mabrouk has been sued. Russian journalist Grigory Pasko has just spent four years in prison. His Uzbek colleague, Solidzhon Abdurakhmanov, has just been given a 10-year jail sentence. Mikhail Beketov, another Russian journalist, has lost a leg and several fingers as a result of an assault. Bulgarian reporter Maria Nikolaeva was threatened with having acid thrown in her face. Filipino journalist Joey Estriber has been missing since 2006... What do these journalists and many others have in common? They are or were covering environmental issues in countries where it is dangerous to do so.


'Greening' logging concessions could help save great apes

(09/17/2009) Promoting reduced impact logging in forest areas already under concession could help protect populations of endangered great apes, argues a new report published by WWF.


Independent review finds logging company has abused rights of indigenous Penan in Borneo

(09/15/2009) An independent review of Interhill Logging found that the Sarawak logging company has regularly violated forest laws and abused the rights of the indigenous Penan peoples. The review, conducted by French tourism giant ACCOR, found that Interhill Logging had not received free, prior, and informed consent from the local Penan people for its logging operations; the logging being done by Interhill "is very definitely not sustainable"; the company is not fully compiling with Sarawak's Natural Resources and Environment Board; and Interhill is providing no long-term benefits to the Penan peoples.


Emissions from cerrado destruction in Brazil equal to emissions from Amazon deforestation

(09/15/2009) Damage to Brazil's vast cerrado grassland results in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those produced by destruction of the Amazon rainforest, said Carlos Minc, the country's Environment Minister.


Saving the last megafauna of Malaysia, an interview with Reuben Clements

(09/15/2009) Reuben Clements has achieved one success after another since graduating from the National University of Singapore. Currently working in peninsular Malaysia, he manages conservation programs for the Endangered Malayan tiger and the Critically Endangered Sumatran Rhino with World Wildlife Fund. At the same time he has discovered three new species of microsnails, one of which was named in the top ten new species of 2008 (a BIG achievement for a snail) due to its peculiar shell which has four different coiling axes. ie7uhig


Social causes of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest

(09/14/2009) Understanding the web of social groups involved in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is key to containing forest loss, argues a leading Amazon researcher writing in the journal Ecology and Society. Philip Fearnside of the National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) reviews nine actors that have had significant roles in deforestation and reports differences in why they deforest, where they are active, and how they interact with each other.


Brazil to step up efforts to save the cerrado grassland

(09/11/2009) Brazil will try to reduce deforestation of the cerrado, a wooded grassland ecosystem in Brazil that is being destroyed twice as fast as the Amazon rainforest, according to the country's Environment Minister Carlos Minc.


World’s only Sumatran rhino to give birth in captivity dies at Cincinnati Zoo

(09/10/2009) Emi, the world’s only Sumatran rhino to give birth in captivity, died on Saturday at the Cincinnati zoo. She successfully gave birth to three offspring, one of which has been released back into the wild in Indonesia.


South Korea's frogs have avoided amphibian crisis so far, an interview with Pierre Fidenci

(09/09/2009) Frogs are on the edge. Blasted by habitat loss, pollution, and a terrible disease, the chytrid fungus, species are vanishing worldwide and those that remain are clinging to existence, rather than thriving. However, an interview with Pierre Fidenci, President of Endangered Species International (ESI), proves that there are still areas of the world where amphibians remain in abundance. South Korea is not a country that is talked about frequently in conservation circles. Other nations in the region attract far more attention, such as Malaysia and Indonesia. But it was just this neglect that drove Pierre Fidenci to visit the nation and survey the amphibians there.


Britain bans palm oil ad campaign

(09/09/2009) Britain's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a group that regulates advertisements, has again banned "misleading" ads by the palm oil industry, reports the Guardian. ASA ruled that a campaign run by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) makes dubious claims, including that palm oil is the "only product able to sustainably and efficiently meet a larger portion of the world's increasing demand for oil crop-based consumer goods, foodstuffs and biofuels." The ad said criticism over "rampant deforestation and unsound environmental practices" were part of "protectionist agendas" not based on scientific fact. ASA held the ad breached several of its advertising standards codes, including "substantiation," "truthfulness," and "environmental claims." In rebuking the MPOC, the ASA said that the merits of new eco-certification scheme promoted by the palm oil industry is "still the subject of debate" and that the ad's attacks on detractors implied that all criticisms of the palm oil industry "were without a valid or scientific basis." wzthpdc5kq


World Bank's IFC suspends lending to palm oil companies

(09/09/2009) The World Bank has agreed to suspend International Finance Corporation (IFC) funding of the oil palm sector pending the development of safeguards to ensure that lending doesn't cause social or environmental harm, according to a letter by World Bank President Robert Zoellick to NGOs. A recent internal audit found that IFC funding of the Wilmar Group, a plantation developer, violated the IFC's own procedures, allowing commercial concerns to trump environmental and social standards. The findings were championed by environmental and indigenous rights' groups who have criticized World Bank support for industrial oil palm development which they say has driven large-scale destruction of forests in Indonesia, boosting greenhouse gas emissions, endangering rare and charismatic species of wildlife, including the orangutan, and displacing forest communities.


Concerns over deforestation may drive new approach to cattle ranching in the Amazon

(09/08/2009) While you're browsing the mall for running shoes, the Amazon rainforest is probably the farthest thing from your mind. Perhaps it shouldn't be. The globalization of commodity supply chains has created links between consumer products and distant ecosystems like the Amazon. Shoes sold in downtown Manhattan may have been assembled in Vietnam using leather supplied from a Brazilian processor that subcontracted to a rancher in the Amazon. But while demand for these products is currently driving environmental degradation, this connection may also hold the key to slowing the destruction of Earth's largest rainforest.


Crowned sifaka population on the verge of local extinction: dispatch from the field

(09/08/2009) A small group of crowned sifaka lemurs Propithecus coronatus have been located in the corridor d’Amboloando-Dabolava, Miandrivazo district-Madagascar, but are immediately threatened with local extinction. The small, fragmented, and isolated forest shelters a group of only six adults and one baby. Interviews with local people revealed that once several groups of the species resided in the corridor, and even last year, about 20 individuals were still found there. However, within one year, the population dropped from 20 to 6 individuals.


Activists target Brazil's largest driver of deforestation: cattle ranching

(09/08/2009) Perhaps unexpectedly for a group with roots in confrontational activism, Amigos da Terra - Amazônia Brasileira is calling for a rather pragmatic approach to address to cattle ranching, the largest driver of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. The solution, says Roberto Smeraldi, founder and director of Amigos da Terra, involves improving the productivity of cattle ranching, thereby allowing forest to recover without sacrificing jobs or income; establishing a moratorium on new clearing; and recognizing the economic values of maintaining the ecological functions of Earth's largest rainforest.


Cartels clear-cutting U.S. national parks for marijuana plantations

(09/07/2009) Marijuana growers are chopping down U.S. national forests to establish plantations for illicit drug production, reports the Wall Street Journal. According to an article written by Stephanie Simon and published September 3rd, the recent border crackdown has pushed marijuana cartels to cultivate crops in the United States rather than risk smuggling from Mexico. National forests are especially targeted, with authorities uncovering marijuana farms in 61 national forests across 16 states so far this year, up from 49 forests in 10 states last year.


20% of land deforested in the Brazilian Amazon is regrowing forest

(09/06/2009) At least 20 percent land deforested in the Brazilian Amazon is regrowing forest, reports Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE).


Investing in conservation could save global economy trillions of dollars annually

(09/03/2009) By investing billions in conserving natural areas now, governments could save trillions every year in ecosystem services, such as natural carbon sinks to fight climate change, according to a European report The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB).


Power, profit, and pollution: dams and the uncertain future of Sarawak

(09/03/2009) Sarawak, land of mystery, legend, and remote upriver tribes. Paradise of lush rainforest and colossal bat-filled caves. Home to unique and bizarre wildlife including flying lemurs, bearcats, orang-utans and rat-eating plants. Center of heavy industry and powerhouse of Southeast Asia. Come again? This jarring image could be the future of Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, should government plans for a complex of massive hydroelectric dams comes to fruition. The plan, which calls for a network of 12 hydroelectric dams to be built across Sarawak's rainforests by 2020, is proceeding despite strong opposition from Sarawak's citizens, environmental groups, and indigenous human rights organizations. By 2037, as many as 51 dams could be constructed.


Amazon tribes have long fought bloody battles against big oil in Ecuador

(09/03/2009) The promotional efforts ahead of the upcoming release of the film Crude have helped raise awareness of the plight of thousands of Ecuadorians who have suffered from environmental damages wrought by oil companies. But while Crude focuses on the relatively recent history of oil development in the Ecuadorean Amazon (specifically the fallout from Texaco's operations during 1968-1992), conflict between oil companies and indigenous forest dwellers dates back to the 1940s.


Amazon deforestation to fall 30% in 2009

(09/02/2009) Deforestation is the Brazilian Amazon is likely to fall between 8,500 square kilometers (3,088 square miles) and 9,000 sq km (3,474 sq mi) for the 12 months ended July 31, 2009, a reduction of 29-37 percent from last year, reports Brazil's Environment Minister Carlos Minc. If the estimate is confirmed by high resolution satellite data to be published later this year, the rate of forest loss for 2008-2009 would be the lowest since annual record-keeping began in the 1980s.


Vietnam outsources deforestation to neighboring countries

(09/02/2009) Taking a cue from its much larger neighbor to the north, Vietnam has outsourced deforestation to neighboring countries, according to a new study that quantified the amount of displacement resulting from restrictions on domestic logging. Like China, Vietnam has experienced a resurgence in forest cover over the past twenty years, largely as a result a forestry policies that restricted timber harvesting and encouraged the development of processing industries that turned raw log imports into finished products for export. These measures contributed to a 55 percent of Vietnam's forests between 1992 and 2005, while bolstering the country's stunning economic growth. But the environmental benefit of the increase in Vietnam's forest cover is deceptive: it came at the expense of forests in Laos, Cambodia, and Indonesia. Authors Patrick Meyfroidt and Eric F. Lambin of the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Belgium calculate that 39 percent of Vietnam's forest regrowth between 1987 and 2006 was effectively logged in other countries. Half of the wood imports into Vietnam were illegal.


Penan tribe to continue blockade against loggers with blowpipes and spears

(09/01/2009) A meeting between the Penan indigenous tribe, Malaysian government officials, and representatives of a logging company ended without an agreement on Friday. After the meeting, a Penan spokesman declared that the group's blockade would continue. Blockaders, dressed in traditional garb, have armed themselves with blowguns and spears.


Destructive farming practices of early civilization may have altered climate long before industrial era

(08/31/2009) William Ruddiman has become well known for his theory that human-induced climate change started long before the Industrial Age. In 2003 he first brought forth the theory that the Neolithic Revolution-when some humans turned from hunter-gathering to large-scale farming-caused a shift in the global climate 7,000 years ago.


Retailers Costco and Amazon.com flunk sustainable paper use, WalMart and Target fare little better

(08/27/2009) Every year forests are destroyed for the production of paper: habitat is lost, greenhouse gases are released, species are impacted, and fresh water sources damaged. Some companies have begun to move towards more sustainable paper production, seeking paper sources stamped by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and increasing the use of recycled paper, however other companies in the industry have yet to change their way. The 3rd annual report card conducted by Dogwood Alliance and Forest Ethics focuses both on the companies who continue to make progress toward sustainable paper production—and those who don't.


20,000 orangutans killed or poached in 10 years without a single prosecution

(08/24/2009) At least 20,000 orangutans have been killed or captured for the illegal pet trade in the past ten years in Indonesia without a single prosecution, according to a report published by Nature Alert and the Centre for Orangutan Protection, groups that campaign on behalf of orangutans.


Environmental disappointments under Obama

(08/24/2009) While the President has been bogged down for the last couple months in an increasingly histrionic health-care debate-which has devolved so far into ridiculousness that one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry-environmental decisions, mostly from the President's appointees have still been coming fast and furious. However, while the administration started out pouring sunshine on the environment (after years of obfuscated drudgery under the Bush administration), they soon began to move away from truly progressive decisions on the environment and into the recognizable territory of playing it safe-and sometimes even stupid.


New Zealand dairy industry contributing to rainforest destruction, says Greenpeace

(08/22/2009) Fonterra, the world's largest dairy exporter is contributing to destruction of rainforests in Southeast Asia through its consumption of palm kernal as animal feed, alleges Greenpeace.


Destruction worsens in Madagascar

(08/20/2009) Armed bands are decimating rainforest reserves in northeastern Madagascar, killing lemurs and intimidating conservation workers, despite widespread condemnation by international environmental groups.


Brazil's 'Obama' weighs presidential bid

(08/20/2009) Marina Silva, the charismatic rubber tapper who went on to become senator and Environment Minister, is weighing a presidential bid in Brazil's 2010 election, according to multiple reports. Political observers say that while her chances are long, Silva's entrance and focus on the environment could spur interest among Brazilians disenchanted by the Workers' Party, the dominant part which has been tarnished lately by corruption scandals.


World Bank violated environmental rules in lending to palm oil companies, finds internal audit

(08/18/2009) A coalition of indigenous rights' organizations and green groups is calling on the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) to suspend lending to oil palm plantation developers over revelations by its own internal auditors that the loan-making entity failed to follow its own procedures for protecting against social and environmental abuses.


World's rarest tree kangaroo gets help from those who once hunted it

(08/17/2009) The world's rarest tree kangaroo is in the midst of a comeback in a remote part of Papua New Guinea. On the brink of extinction in 2001 with a population estimated at fewer than 100 individuals, Scott's Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus scottae), or the tenkile, is recovering, thanks to the efforts of the Tenkile Conservation Alliance to motivate local communities to reduce hunting and respect critical forest habitat. The tenkile Conservation Alliance, led by Australians Jim and Jean Thomas, works to provide alternative sources of protein and raise environmental awareness among local communities.


Sears catalogue continues to harm boreal forest and caribou

(08/17/2009) Sears Holding Company, most known for their ubiquitous catalogues, continues to stall on releasing a more environmental paper policy, according to the nonprofit environmental organization ForestEthics. Sears’ long delay to implement a more forest-friendly policy is adding pressure to already threatened caribou populations and deforesting forests in Canada, where the company sources much of its paper.


Oil companies in the UK are big users of palm oil biodiesel

(08/17/2009) British motorists are unwittingly big consumers of palm oil produced on rainforest lands in southeast Asia, reports The Times.


Forest fires set by Borneo dam developer contributes to haze in Malaysia, Singapore

(08/17/2009) The developer of a massive hydroelectric project in Borneo plans to set fire to thousands hectares of logged over rainforest in the dam area, contributing to polluting haze already blanketing the region and raising the risk of forest fires in adjacent areas, reports a local environmental group. The Sarawak Conservation Action Network has learned that Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd, the operator of the Bakun Hydroelectric Power Dam project, is in the process of clear-cuting 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of rainforest set to be flooded by the dam. The remnants are being torched, in direct violation of Malaysia's laws against open burning.


Cadbury dumps palm oil after consumer protests

(08/17/2009) Cadbury New Zealand, responding to widespread consumer protests, will stop adding palm oil to its milk chocolate products, reports the New Zealand Herald. The candy-maker substituted palm oil and other vegetable fat for cocoa butter earlier this year. The company cited cost savings for the decision, but the move triggered outcry from environmental groups who blame palm oil production for destruction of rainforests across Indonesia and Malaysia, key habitat for orangutans and other endangered species. Concerns that Cadbury chocolate could be imperiling orangutans led the Auckland Zoo and others to ban Cadbury products. Meanwhile consumers swamped the company with letters and petitions protesting its use of palm oil.


Photos reveal illegal logging near uncontacted natives in Peru

(08/17/2009) Ariel photos show proof of illegal logging for mahogany occurring in a Peruvian reserve set aside for uncontacted natives. The photos, taken by Chris Fagan from Round River Conservation Studies, show logging camps set-up inside the Murunahua Reserve, meant to protect the uncontacted indigenous group, known as the Murunahua Indians, in the Peruvian Amazon.


Brazilian beef giant announces moratorium on rainforest beef

(08/13/2009) Brazil's second-largest beef exporter, Bertin, announced it would establish a moratorium on buying cattle from farms involved in Amazon deforestation, reports Greenpeace. The move comes after the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) withdrew a $90 million loan to Bertin following revelations in a Greenpeace report that the company was buying beef produced on illegally deforested lands. The report, which linked some of the world's most prominent brands to rainforest destruction in the Amazon, had an immediate impact, triggering a cascade of events.


Boreal forests in wealthy countries being rapidly destroyed

(08/12/2009) Boreal forests in some of the world's wealthiest countries are being rapidly destroyed by human activities — including mining, logging, and purposely-set fires — report researchers writing in Trends in Ecology and Evolution.


Issues around palm oil development prove complex, controversial

(08/12/2009) A new report from published by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) highlights the benefits — and controversies — of large-scale expansion of oil palm agriculture in Southeast Asia. The review, titled "The impacts and opportunities of oil palm in Southeast Asia: What do we know and what do we need to know?", notes that while oil palm is a highly productive and profitable crop, there are serious concerns about its environmental and social impact when established on disputed land or in place of tropical forests and peatlands.


Historical deforestation in Madagascar may not be as bad as commonly believed

(08/12/2009) The long-held assumption that Madagascar has lost 90 percent of its forest cover due to fire and slash-and-burn agriculture may be overstated, argues new research published in Conservation Letters. Analyzing 6000-year pollen records in four sites, Malika Virah-Sawmy of Oxford University found evidence that vegetation in southeast Madagascar has for millennia been a mosaic of forests, woodlands and savannas, rather than continuous forests as generally believed. Virah-Sawmy says the findings demonstrate the importance of conserving Madagascar's remaining ecosystems as a buffer against climate change.


Lessons from the crisis in Madagascar, an interview with Erik Patel

(08/11/2009) On March 17th of this year the President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, resigned his post. This made way for Andry Rajoelina, mayor of Madagascar’s capital, to install himself as president with help from the military. The unrest and confusion that usually accompanies such a coup brought disaster on many of Madagascar's biological treasures. Within days of Ravalomanana's resignation, armed gangs, allegedly funded by Chinese traders, entered two of Madagascar’s world-renowned national parks, Marojejy and Masoala parks, and began to log rosewood, ebonies, and other valuable hardwoods. The pillaging lasted months but the situation began to calm down over the summer. Now that the crisis in Madagascar has abated—at least for the time being—it’s time to take stock. In order to do so, Mongabay spoke to Erik Patel, an expert on the Critically Endangered Silky Sifaka and frequent visitor to Madagascar, to find out what the damage looks like firsthand and to see what lessons might be learned.


LUSH cosmetics launches campaign against palm oil

(08/10/2009) LUSH Cosmetics, a leading cosmetics-maker, will no longer use palm oil due to environmental concerns over its production. LUSH, which is now selling a palm oil-free soap, has launched a two-pronged campaign to make consumers aware of the impacts of palm cultivation on tropical forests and encourage other consumer-products companies, including Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Nestle, to reformulate their products using alternatives to palm oil.


Peru to proceed with oil and gas auctions in the Amazon despite indigenous protests

(08/07/2009) Despite violent protests by indigenous groups over plans to expand oil and gas exploration in the Peru's Amazon rainforest, energy investments in the South American country are expected to increase to $1.5 billion in both 2009 and 2010, reports Reuters.


Amazon deforestation falls in June

(08/05/2009) Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon during June dropped at least 4.4 percent to the year earlier period, keeping Brazil on pace for the lowest forest loss since annual record-keeping began in 1988.


Millenium Project’s “State of the Future” Report Cites 21st Century Threats

(08/05/2009) The United Nations Millenium Project has recently published its 2009 “State of the Future” report. The publication states that 50% of the global population is at risk of social conflict and violence due to unemployment from the recent recession, as well as pervasive threats such as lack of water, food, and energy resources. The report also cites the cumulative effects of climate change and poor environmental and economic conditions as contributing, problematic issues.


Peru to raise payment to indigenous communities for Amazon forest conservation

(08/03/2009) Peru's environment minister now says the government will pay indigenous communities 10 sols ($3.30) for every hectare of rainforest they help to preserve, reports the Latin American Herald. Previously Antonio Brack said that communities would see about half that amount. The $3.30-per-hectare figure is low by international standards. Under a proposed mechanism that compensates countries for reducing deforestation (REDD), forest land could be worth $800 or more per hectare for its carbon (225 tons of carbon/ha), depending on its level of threat. Forests in areas of high deforestation would be compensated at a higher rate than inaccessible forests at low-risk of development. But Brack left open the possibility that communities could receive higher payment if parties agree to include REDD compensation in a future climate framework.


Weeks after bloodshed, American oil moves into Peruvian Amazon, putting rainforest, possible archeological site at risk

(08/03/2009) Barely six weeks after a dozen Amazon natives were gunned down by the Peruvian Army in the oil town of Bagua for protesting the cozy relationship between Big Oil and the government of President Alan Garcia, I find myself on the banks of the Mother of God River in Salvacion, Peru, wondering if all those folks died in vain. Any day now, the bulldozers will be moving in as Texas-based Hunt Oil Company – with the full go-ahead of the Peruvian government -- fires its first salvo in its assault against the million-acre pristine rainforest wilderness of the little-known and largely unexplored Amarakaeri Communal Reserve.


Emissions from Amazon deforestation to rise as loggers move deeper into the rainforest

(07/31/2009) Emissions from Amazon deforestation are growing as developers move deeper into old-growth forest areas where carbon density is higher, report scientists writing in Geophysical Research Letters.


Alcoa mine to clear 25,000 acres of rainforest, suck 133,407 gallons of water per hour from the Amazon

(07/31/2009) A bauxite mine under development by Alcoa, the world’s second-largest primary aluminum producer, will consume 10,500 hectares (25,900 acres) of primary Amazon rainforest and suck 133,407 gallons of water per hour from the Amazon, reports Bloomberg News in an extensive write-up.


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Country / AreaLand areaForest
ForestOther wooded landTotal areaAreaAnnual change rateArea of primary forestAnnual change rateArea of forest plantations
2005199020001990-20002000-2005PrimaryModified naturalSemi-naturalProduction plantationProtection plantation1990200020051990-20002000-2005199020002005
Country / Area1000 ha% of land area1000 ha1000 ha1000 ha1000 ha1000 ha/yr%1000 ha/yr%1000 ha1000 ha1000 ha1000 ha1000 ha1000 ha1000 ha1000 haha/yrha/yr1000 ha1000 ha1000 ha
Angola59,10447.4-124,67060,97659,728-125-0.2-125-0.2058,9730131000000140134131
Botswana11,94321.134,79158,17313,71812,535-118-0.9-118-1-------------
British Indian
Ocean Territory
332.508330000-------------
Comoros52.9-186128n.s.-4-1-7.40401-00000221
Kenya3,5226.234,92058,0373,7083,582-13-0.3-12-0.37042,616-202-742716704-2,520-2,400238212202
Lesotho80.3313,03557n.s.3.4n.s.2.71--7-11100467
Madagascar12,83822.117,05458,70413,69213,023-67-0.5-37-0.310,3472,198-2345910,50310,38110,347-12,200-6,800293293293
Malawi3,40236.2-11,8483,8963,567-33-0.9-33-0.91,1322,067-204-1,7271,3301,132-39,700-39,600132180204
Mauritius3718.2152043938n.s.-0.3n.s.-0.5022n.s.11400000161515
Mayotte514.7-3766n.s.-0.4n.s.-0.4-5-n.s.------n.s.n.s.n.s.
Mozambique19,26224.640,91980,15920,01219,512-50-0.3-50-0.3-19,224-38------383838
Namibia7,6619.38,47382,4298,7628,033-73-0.9-74-0.9-7,661-----------
RÈunion8433.6552518787n.s.-0.1-1-0.75561822555555-30-20555
Seychelles4088.9-4540400000233-5-22200555
South Africa9,2037.621,409121,9099,2039,2030000-7,777-1,426------1,2041,3521,426
Swaziland54131.52891,73647251850.950.9-39531114------135121114
Uganda3,62718.41,15024,1044,9244,059-86-1.9-86-2.2-3,591-36------333536
UR Tanzania35,25739.94,75694,50941,44137,318-412-1-412-1.1-35,107-150------150150150
Zambia42,45257.13,16175,26149,12444,676-445-0.9-445-1-42,377-75------607575
Zimbabwe17,54045.3-39,07522,23419,105-313-1.5-313-1.7-17,385-154------154154154
Total Eastern and
Southern Africa
226,53427.8167,023834,380252,354235,047-1,731-0.7-1,702-0.8
Algeria2,27711,595238,1741,7902,144351.8271.2-1,20631612742-----620652754
Burkina Faso6,794297,42727,4007,1546,914-24-0.3-24-0.305,91880071500000336376
Chad11,9219.59,152128,40013,11012,317-79-0.6-79-0.719011,716--15209196190-1,300-1,200111415
Djibouti60.22202,320660000-------------
Egypt670.120100,14544592322.6---166-----445967
Eritrea1,55415.47,25711,7601,6211,576-4-0.3-4-0.3-1,526-1414-----102228
Ethiopia13,00011.944,650110,43015,11413,705-141-1-141-1.1-12,509-491------491491491
Libya2170.1330175,9542172170000----217-----217217217
Mali12,57210.316,532124,01914,07213,072-100-0.7-100-0.8------13,012----60-
Mauritania2670.33,110102,552415317-10-2.7-10-3.4-----------10-
Morocco4,3649.840644,6554,2894,32840.170.2-3,75447563------478523563
Niger1,26613,740126,7001,9451,328-62-3.7-12-1220936--11022022022000-72110
Somalia7,13111.4-63,7668,2827,515-77-1-77-1-7,128-3------333
Sudan67,54628.4-250,58176,38170,491-589-0.8-589-0.813,50947,2821,3514,72867515,27614,09813,509-117,807-117,8076,1115,6395,404
Tunisia1,0566.817016,361643959324.1191.9-320238150348-----226423498
Western Sahara1,0113.8-26,6001,0111,0110000-------------
Total Northern Africa131,0488.694,6091,549,817146,093135,958-1,013-0.7-982-0.7
Benin2,35121.33,95911,2623,3222,675-65-2.1-65-2.5-2,237-114------98109114
Burundi1525.97222,783289198-9-3.7-9-5.20670860-00-0-8686
Cameroon21,24545.614,75847,54424,54522,345-220-0.9-220-1-------------
Cape Verde8420.7-403588223.6n.s.0.4---6717-----588284
Central African Republic22,75536.510,12262,29823,20322,903-30-0.1-30-0.1-22,750-5------245
Congo22,47165.810,54734,20022,72622,556-17-0.1-17-0.17,46414,957-51-7,5487,4927,464-5,647-5,647515151
CÙte d'Ivoire10,40532.72,62632,24610,22210,328110.1150.16259,4430337062562562500154261337
DR Congo133,61058.983,277234,486140,531135,207-532-0.4-319-0.2-------------
Equatorial Guinea1,63258.2312,8051,8601,708-15-0.8-15-0.9-------------
Gabon21,77584.5-26,76721,92721,826-10n.s.-10n.s.---36------363636
Gambia47141.71251,13044246120.420.4-471-n.s.------n.s.n.s.n.s.
Ghana5,51724.2023,8547,4486,094-135-2-115-23535,004-160-353353353005060160
Guinea6,72427.45,85024,5867,4086,904-50-0.7-36-0.5636,5686030363636300172233
Guinea-Bissau2,07273.72363,6122,2162,120-10-0.4-10-0.59401,132-0n.s.94094094000n.s.n.s.1
Liberia3,15432.7011,1374,0583,455-60-1.6-60-1.81293,017-8-12912912900888
Nigeria11,08912.25,49592,37717,23413,137-410-2.7-410-3.332610,414034901,556736326-82,000-82,000251316349
Rwanda48019.5612,63431834430.8276.9062-3675200000248282419
Saint Helena26.5031220000-------------
Sao Tome and Principe2728.42996272700001216---12121200---
Senegal8,673455,00119,6729,3488,898-45-0.5-45-0.51,5986,710-332331,7591,6531,598-10,600-11,000205306365
Sierra Leone2,75438.53847,1743,0442,851-19-0.7-19-0.7-2,751-3------233
Togo3867.11,2465,679685486-20-3.4-20-4.50348-30800000243438
Total Western and
Central Africa
277,82944.1144,468646,776300,914284,608-1,631-0.6-1,356-0.5
Total Africa635,41221.4406,1003,030,974699,361655,613-4,375-0.7-4,040-0.6
China197,29021.287,615959,805157,141177,0011,9861.24,0582.211,632114,33239,95728,5302,83911,63211,63211,6320018,46623,92431,369
DPR Korea6,18751.4-12,0548,2016,821-138-1.8-127-1.9852-5,335--1,129939852-19,000-17,400---
Japan24,86868.2-37,78024,95024,876-7n.s.-2n.s.4,5919,955--10,3213,7644,0544,59129,000107,40010,28710,33110,321
Mongolia10,2526.52,388156,65011,49210,665-83-0.7-83-0.84,7335,407-112-5,5404,9234,733-61,700-38,0003075112
Republic of Korea6,26563.5-9,9266,3716,300-7-0.1-7-0.1-4,901-1,364------7481,1881,364
Total East Asia244,86221.390,0031,176,215208,155225,6631,7510.83,8401.6
Bangladesh8716.75814,400882884n.s.n.s.-2-0.3-592-19584-----239276279
Bhutan3,195686114,7003,0353,141110.3110.34132,5292512041341341300112
Brunei Darussalam27852.8160577313288-2-0.8-2-0.7278----313288278-2,500-2,000---
Cambodia10,44759.227018,10412,94611,541-140-1.1-219-212210,266059-766456122-31,000-66,800677259
India67,70122.84,110328,72663,93967,5543620.629n.s.-32,94331,5321,0532,173-----1,9542,8053,226
Indonesia88,49548.8-190,457116,56797,852-1,872-1.7-1,871-248,702-36,3943,399-70,41955,94148,702-1,447,800-1,447,8002,2093,0023,399
Lao PDR16,14269.94,64323,68017,31416,532-78-0.5-78-0.51,49014,428-22311,4901,4901,49000499224
Malaysia20,89063.6-32,97522,37621,591-78-0.4-140-0.73,820-15,4971,573-3,8203,8203,820001,9561,6591,573
Maldives13030110000-------------
Myanmar32,2224910,83467,65839,21934,554-466-1.3-466-1.4031,373069615300000394696849
Nepal3,63625.41,89714,7184,8173,900-92-2.1-53-1.43493842,8504310391384349-700-7,000495253
Pakistan1,9022.51,38979,6102,5272,116-41-1.8-43-2.1-1,584-318------234296318
Philippines7,162243,61130,00010,5747,949-262-2.8-157-2.18295,713-304316829829829001,780852620
Singapore23.40682200002000022200000
Sri Lanka1,93329.906,5612,3502,082-27-1.2-30-1.51671,571-17124257197167-6,000-6,000242221195
Thailand14,52028.4-51,31215,96514,814-115-0.7-59-0.46,4514,970-1,9971,1026,4516,4516,451002,6403,0773,099
Timor-Leste79853.7-1,487966854-11-1.2-11-1.3-755--43-----294343
Viet Nam12,93139.72,25933,1699,36311,7252362.324128510,151-1,79290338418785-19,700-20,4009672,0502,695
Total South and
South-east Asia
283,12733.429,842898,232323,156297,380-2,578-0.9-2,851-1
Afghanistan8671.3-65,2091,3091,015-29-2.5-30-3.1-867-----------
Armenia32111.4442,98033634410.2-5-1.416295001017171640-280141110
Azerbaijan93611.3548,6609369360000400516--2040040040000202020
Bahrainn.s.0.6071n.s.n.s.n.s.5.6n.s.3.8----n.s.-----n.s.n.s.n.s.
Cyprus17418.921492516117310.7n.s.0.222111360522222200335
Georgia2,76039.7506,9702,7602,760n.s.n.s.n.s.n.s.5002,200006050050050000546060
Iran11,0756.85,340164,82011,07511,075000020010,031228616-20020020000616616616
Iraq8221.992743,83280481810.210.10809001300000151513
Israel1718.3852,10615416410.610.8-70--101-----8494101
Jordan830.9528,92183830000037604000000404040
Kazakhstan3,3371.215,622272,4903,4223,365-6-0.2-6-0.202,42800909000001,0341,056909
Kuwait60.301,78235n.s.3.5n.s.2.7----6-----356
Kyrgyzstan8694.531319,99083685820.320.3241562-2442237240241250260465966
Lebanon13613.31061,04012113110.810.80129080--0----8
Oman2n.s.1,30321,246220000----2-----222
Palestine91.5-621990000-------------
Qatarn.s.n.s.n.s.1,100n.s.n.s.0000-------------
Saudi Arabia2,7281.334,155214,9692,7282,7280000-2,728-----------
Syria4612.53518,51837243261.561.3-198--264-----175234264
Tajikistan4102.914214,255408410n.s.n.s.002971235224429729729700766666
Turkey10,17513.210,68977,4829,68010,052370.4250.29755,9257381,91662173989797515,80015,6001,8392,3042,537
Turkmenistan4,1278.8048,8104,1274,12700001044,023-0-10410410400000
United Arab Emirates3123.748,36024531062.4n.s.0.1000031200000245310312
Uzbekistan3,295890444,7403,0453,212170.5170.5572,64353455657575700305161
Yemen54911,40652,7975495490000-161388----------
Total Western and
Central Asia
43,626471,4461,102,69543,16643,558390.114n.s.
Total Asia571,61518.5191,2913,177,142574,477566,601-788-0.11,0030.2
Albania794292612,875789769-2-0.350.6856210386858585001039688
Andorra1635.6-4516160000-------------
Austria3,86246.71188,3863,7763,83860.250.1-----117119-200-9881,003-
Belarus7,8943891420,7607,3767,848470.690.14005,7121,7802-40040040000222
Belgium66722273,053677667-1-0.10000392275000000303284275
Bosnia and Herzegovina2,18543.15495,1202,2102,185-2-0.10021,184857142--22-0-142142
Bulgaria3,62532.82711,0993,3273,37550.1501.4-----267396-12,900-4048-
Channel Islands14.1019110000-------------
Croatia2,13538.23465,6542,1162,12910.110.1102,063061010101000566061
Czech Republic2,64834.307,8872,6302,6371n.s.20.10142,6340000000000
Denmark50011.81364,30944548640.930.6061792813400000291305315
Estonia2,28453.9824,5232,1632,24380.480.41421,39075110-137142-1,000-11
Faeroe Islandsn.s.0.1-140n.s.n.s.0000-------------
Finland22,50073.980233,81422,19422,475280.15n.s.1,419021,081001,4911,4181,419-7,300200000
France15,55428.31,70855,15014,53815,351810.5410.330-13,5561,968-303030001,8421,9361,968
Germany11,07631.7-35,70310,74111,076340.3000011,0760000000000
Gibraltar0001000-0--------------
Greece3,75229.12,78013,1963,2993,601300.9300.803,6180013400000118129134
Holy See000n.s.000-0--------------
Hungary1,97621.509,3031,8011,907110.6140.704151,0164549100000431528545
Iceland460.510410,300253814.323.9017017120000082129
Ireland6699.7417,027441609173.3121.900905790100-1000350519579
Isle of Man36.1057330000-------------
Italy9,97933.91,04730,1348,3839,4471061.21061.1---146-160160-0-289144146
Latvia2,94147.41156,4602,7752,885110.4110.4142,28264410-1514--280-n.s.1
Liechtenstein743.101667n.s.0.60025-n.s.-22200n.s.n.s.n.s.
Lithuania2,09933.5776,5301,9452,02080.4160.8261,548384100412021261001,000124137141
Luxembourg8733.512598687n.s.0.100--5828------282828
Macedonia90635.8822,57190690600000876-30-00000303030
Maltan.s.1.1032n.s.n.s.00000000n.s.00000n.s.n.s.n.s.
Monaco000n.s.000-0--------------
Netherlands36510.804,15334536020.410.3003614000000444
Norway9,38730.72,61332,3769,1309,301170.2170.2250-8,875262-25025025000222255262
Poland9,19230-31,2698,8819,059180.2270.353-9,10732-3051532,100400323232
Portugal3,78341.3849,1983,0993,583481.5401.155-2,4941,067167555555005501,0341,234
Republic of Moldova32910313,38431932610.210.2032801000000111
Romania6,37027.725823,8396,3716,3660n.s.1n.s.2336515,339925723323323300149149149
Russian Federation808,79047.974,1851,707,540808,950809,26832n.s.-96n.s.255,470536,358-11,8885,075241,726258,131255,4701,640,510-532,20012,65115,36016,962
San Marinon.s.1.606n.s.n.s.0000-------------
Serbia and Montenegro2,69426.480810,2172,5592,64990.390.341152,53639044400393939
Slovakia1,92940.1-4,9011,9221,921n.s.n.s.20.12494694017224242400232019
Slovenia1,26462.8442,0271,1881,23950.450.41191,107380063951193,2004,800000
Spain17,91535.910,29950,59913,47916,43629622961.781211,5824,0501,471062174881212,70012,8001,1261,3561,471
Sweden27,52866.93,25744,99627,36727,47411n.s.11n.s.4,726-22,13566704,3484,6004,72625,20025,200523619667
Switzerland1,22130.9674,1291,1551,19940.440.414151,1884036143001,600344
Ukraine9,57516.54160,3709,2749,510240.3130.1594,7294,3998130759595900325367388
United Kingdom2,84511.82024,2912,6112,793180.7100.406462751,90222000001,8771,9341,924
Total Europe1,001,39444.3100,9252,297,719989,320998,0918770.16610.1
Anguilla671.4-8660000-------------
Antigua and Barbuda921.41644990000-------------
Aruban.s.2.2019n.s.n.s.0000-------------
Bahamas51551.5361,3885155150000-515-00-----000
Barbados24-43220000-2-----------
Bermuda12005110000-------------
British Virgin Islands424.421544n.s.-0.1n.s.-0.1-------------
Cayman Islands1248.442612120000-------------
Cuba2,71324.726011,0862,0582,435381.7562.2-2,319-230164-----347342394
Dominica4661.3n.s.755047n.s.-0.5n.s.-0.627190n.s.-282827-86-84-n.s.n.s.
Dominican Republic1,37628.46784,8731,3761,3760000-------------
Grenada412.253444n.s.n.s.0013-n.s.-111-22-23n.s.n.s.n.s.
Guadeloupe8047.221718481n.s.-0.3n.s.-0.3195821019191900311
Haiti1053.8-2,775116109-1-0.6-1-0.7-81-24------122024
Jamaica33931.31881,099345341n.s.-0.1n.s.-0.1-325-86-----151414
Martinique4643.9-11046460000-45-1------111
Montserrat435-10440000-4-----------
Netherlands Antilles11.53380110000-------------
Puerto Rico40846-895404407n.s.0.1n.s.n.s.-------------
Saint Kitts and Nevis514.7636550000-------------
Saint Lucia1727.956217170000-------------
Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines
1127.4239910n.s.0.8n.s.0.8-10-n.s.------n.s.n.s.n.s.
Trinidad and Tobago22644.174513235228-1-0.3n.s.-0.214197015014141400151515
Turks and
Caicos Islands
3480-4334340000-------------
United States
Virgin Islands
1027.9-341210n.s.-1.3n.s.-1.8-------------
Total Caribbean5,97426.11,31023,4825,3505,706360.6540.9
Belize1,65372.51152,2961,6531,65300006121,041---61261261200---
Costa Rica2,39146.8105,1102,5642,376-19-0.830.11801,31988813255180180-7,5000-34
El Salvador29814.42012,104375324-5-1.5-5-1.76286-6-66600666
Guatemala3,93836.31,67210,8894,7484,208-54-1.2-54-1.31,9571,859-122-2,3592,0911,957-26,789-26,8343288122
Honduras4,64841.571011,2097,3855,430-196-3-156-3.11,5122,261845-301,5121,5121,51200312630
Nicaragua5,18942.71,02213,0006,5385,539-100-1.6-70-1.31,8493,289-51-1,8491,8491,8490044651
Panama4,29457.71,2887,5524,3764,307-7-0.2-3-0.13,0231,21006013,7063,2393,023-46,700-43,200104261
Total Central America22,41143.95,01852,16027,63923,837-380-1.6-285-1.3
Canada310,13433.691,951997,061310,134310,1340000165,424144,710---165,424165,424165,42400---
Greenlandn.s.n.s.841,045n.s.n.s.0000-------------
Mexico64,23833.719,908195,82069,01665,540-348-0.5-260-0.432,85030,330-7298638,77534,82532,850-395,000-395,000-1,0581,058
Saint Pierre and
Miquelon
313-24330000-3-----------
United States of America303,08933.1-962,909298,648302,2943650.11590.1104,182175,5236,32317,061-105,268105,258104,182-1,000-215,20010,30516,27417,061
Total North America677,46432.7111,8662,196,859677,801677,97117n.s.-101n.s.
Total North and
Central America
705,84932.9118,1942,272,501710,790707,514-328n.s.-333n.s.
American Samoa1889.4-201818n.s.-0.2n.s.-0.2-------------
Australia163,67821.3421,590774,122167,904164,645-326-0.2-193-0.15,233156,679-1,766--5,2335,233-01,0231,4851,766
Cook Islands1666.5-231516n.s.0.400-14--1-----011
Fiji1,00054.7-1,8279791,00020.2008945-101-895894894-100080101101
French Polynesia10528.7-4001051050000-95-10------101010
Guam2647.10552626n.s.n.s.00-------------
Kiribati23-73220000-------------
Marshall Islands---18-------------------
Micronesia6390.6-7063630000-------------
Nauru0002000-0--------------
New Caledonia71739.27871,8587177170000431277-10-43143143100101010
New Zealand8,309312,55727,0537,7208,226510.6170.23,5062,951-1,832203,5063,5063,506001,2611,7691,852
Niue1454.2-261715n.s.-1.3n.s.-1.4-14-n.s.------n.s.n.s.n.s.
Northern Mariana Islands3372.4-463534n.s.-0.3n.s.-0.3-------------
Palau4087.6-463840n.s.0.4n.s.0.4-------------
Papua New Guinea29,437654,47446,28431,52330,132-139-0.5-139-0.525,2114,134-92-29,21026,46225,211-274,800-250,200638292
Pitcairn483.304440000-------------
Samoa17160.42228413017142.800n.s.110292111-n.s.n.s.-0-3232
Solomon Islands2,17277.6-2,8902,7682,371-40-1.5-40-1.7-------------
Tokelau0001000-0--------------
Tonga45175440000-4-n.s.------n.s.n.s.n.s.
Tuvalu133.303110000-------------
Vanuatu44036.14761,2194404400000-------------
Wallis and Futuna Islands535.311465n.s.-0.8n.s.-2n.s.40100n.s.n.s.-2-6n.s.01
Total Oceania206,25424.3429,908856,414212,514208,034-448-0.2-356-0.2
Argentina33,02112.160,961278,04035,26233,770-149-0.4-150-0.4-31,792-1,229------7691,0781,229
Bolivia58,74054.22,473109,85862,79560,091-270-0.4-270-0.529,36029,360-20-31,38830,03629,360-135,200-135,200202020
Brazil477,69857.2-851,488520,027493,213-2,681-0.5-3,103-0.6415,89056,424-5,384-460,513433,220415,890-2,729,300-3,466,0005,0705,2795,384
Chile16,12121.513,24175,66315,26315,834570.4570.44,1429,292262,66104,1524,1454,142-700-6001,7412,3542,661
Colombia60,72858.518,202113,89161,43960,963-48-0.1-47-0.153,0627,337-3121653,85453,34353,062-51,050-56,160136254328
Ecuador10,85339.21,44828,35613,81711,841-198-1.5-198-1.74,7945,895-164-4,7944,7944,79420-40-162164
Falkland Islands0001,217000-0--------------
French Guiana8,06391.809,0008,0918,063-3n.s.007,7013610107,9097,7617,701-14,800-12,000111
Guyana15,10476.73,58021,49715,10415,104n.s.n.s.009,3145,789----9,3149,314-0---
Paraguay18,47546.5-40,67521,15719,368-179-0.9-179-0.91,85016,582-43-1,8501,8501,85000233643
Peru68,74253.722,132128,52270,15669,213-94-0.1-94-0.161,0656,9230754-62,91062,18861,065-72,200-224,600263715754
South Georgia and
the South Sandwich Islands
000409000-0--------------
Suriname14,77694.7-16,32714,77614,776000014,21455057014,21414,21414,21400777
Uruguay1,5068.6417,6221,1231,409292.3191.3296444-751152392962965,7000419669766
Venezuela47,71354.17,36991,20552,02649,151-288-0.6-288-0.6-------------
Total South America831,54047.7129,4091,783,770891,036852,796-3,824-0.4-4,251-0.5
Total World3,952,06330.31,375,82813,418,5184,077,4983,988,649-8,885-0.2-7,317-0.2



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Copyright Rhett Butler 1994-2005

"Rainforest" is used interchangeably with "rain forest" on this site.
Same for "rainforests" and "rain forests". "Jungle" is generally not used.