FAO - 2.5M Hectares Of Asian Forest Lost Each Year - Xinhua

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WELLINGTON, April 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The total forest area in the Asia-Pacific region is estimated at 585 million hectares and 2.5 million hectares are cleared annually.

This was revealed in a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, tabled in a meeting Monday in Nadi, Fiji, according to a report reaching here from Suva Tuesday. The FAO report said that in the past decade, significant forest losses in the region were due to land clearing for agriculture andforest logging.

In the 1990s, several countries lost more than 10 percent of their forest cover. These were Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

The report also stated that there has also been some progress in reducing deforestation in Asia and the Pacific in the last century."

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-04/20/content_1429832.htm