Earth Equity News

United States Losing Higher Percentage of Forest Than Brazil. By Jeremy Hance, Mongabay, April 26, 2010. "From 2000 to 2005 the world lost over a million square kilometers of forest. According to the researchers Brazil lost 26,000 square kilometers (10,038 square miles) per year of its rainforest, and 7,000 square kilometers (2,702 square miles) in its dry tropical forests. Over the five years, total forest loss in Brazil came to 165,000 square kilometers (63,706 square miles). In all this represents 3.6% of its total 2000 forest cover: 0.5% higher than the global average. However, the study does not incorporate small-scale logging or forest degradation in places like Brazil unless the canopy cover falls below 25%. Canada was close behind Brazil: losing some 160,000 square kilometers (61,776 square miles) of its forest cover. However, proportionally Canada's forest loss equals 5.2% of the nation's total forest cover: higher than Brazil's percentage and over two points higher than the global average. But the United States had the greatest percentage loss of the seven nations -- even more than Brazil and Canada -- losing 6% of its forest cover in just five years time, a total of 120,000 square kilometers (46,332 square miles). While fire and beetle infestation played a role in Alaska and the western US, large-scale logging industries in the southeast, along the western coast, and in the Midwest play a big role in the nation's forest loss."