World has lost 3 percent of its forests since 1990

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-09/uom-whl091415.php

Public Release: 14-Sep-2015
World has lost 3 percent of its forests since 1990

But losses have slowed significantly over the past decade

University of Melbourne

The globe's forests have shrunk by three per cent since 1990 - an area equivalent to the size of South Africa - despite significant improvements in conservation over the past decade.

The UN's Global Forest Resources Assessment (GFRA) 2015 was released this week, revealing that while the pace of forest loss has slowed, the damage over the past 25 years has been considerable.

Total forest area has declined by three per cent between 1990 and 2015 from 4,128 million hectares to 3,999 million hectares - a loss of 129 million hectares.

Significantly, loss of natural forested area was double the global tota

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