However, these services have been
DownloaD Graphic 2
reduced by the decline in total forest
area and by continued forest degra-
Declines in carbon in living biomass and in extent of forest
dation, especially in production and
1990 = 100
multipurpose forests. Despite the fact
100
Source: FAO 2006a
that more and more forest areas are
being designated for conservation
99
and protection, the unsustainable
harvesting of forest products is putting
98
these areas under severe pressure
97
jeopardizing valuable ecosystem serv-
ices. For example, the rate of decline
Extent of forest
96
in fixed carbon has been greater
Carbon in living biomass
than the rate of decline in forest area.
95
Between 1990 and 2005 the global
forest area shrank at an annual rate of
94
about 0.2 per cent: there were losses
in areas of primary forest while there
1990 2000 2005
were gains in areas of planted and
semi-natural forest.
Trade, growth and the environment
DownloaD Graphic 2
In recent years, Chile has been considered one of the most economically by large-scale timber production. Many endangered tree and shrub species
competitive countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Rapid growth in have been affected by this growth of planted forest, which has also led to a
Chile’s production and export of forest products is based on the expansion dramatic reduction of landscape diversity as well as goods-and-services from
and management of exotic species in newly planted forests over the past 30 forests. The two images, taken in 1975 (left) and 2001 (right), show clear
years. To do so, the traditional land-use practices in small-scale logging of reductions in forested land on the one hand (red arrows), and new forest
native forests, livestock raising and agricultural cultivation have been replaced areas on the other (yellow arrows).
Source: UNEP 2005b
Credit: UNEP 2005b
32 VITAL GEO GRAPHICS