A question of forest loss

Abstract

[Extract] The figures are from the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), which compiles estimates of forest loss and recovery, based on satellite data and government reports. The FAO data take into account changes in total forest cover, including regeneration as well as loss. They indicate that from 2005 to 2010, Australia lost an average of 924,000ha of forest per year. Forest cover declined from 153.9 to 1493 million hectares, an annual decline of 0.61 per cent. The figure for these five years was particularly grim and, in fact, the rate of loss in the previous five years was lower: about 200,000ha per year.