| Only 30% of the earth covered by forests |
| Written by UN Food and Agriculture Organisation | |
| Monday, 04 June 2007 | |
 © 2007 Jonathan Tan About 30% of the planets total land area is covered by forests, this amounts to just under 40 million km2. Destruction of forests constitutes 20-30 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Rainforest canopies absorb carbon dioxide which is a gas in the atmosphere. When the rainforests are burned and cleared, the carbon is released. Also, when trees are cut down they can no longer absorb carbon dioxide. This means more carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide allows heat through the atmosphere (suns rays). However, it will not allow reflected energy to escape from the atmosphere. This is called the greenhouse effect and causes global warming.  © 2007 Adam Oswell "Forests serve vital ecosystem functions, regulating water cycles, for example, by storing and slowly releasing rainfall so that droughts and floods are avoided, and preventing erosion of topsoil.  © 2007 Adam Oswell 60 million indigenous people are dependent on forests. The global deforestation rate remains dangerously high. A rate of 28 hectares per minute. |