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UNIT 1: WHERE DO WE STAND? THE STATE OF THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT<br />
023<br />
Change on forest extent, 1990-1995<br />
difference 1995-1990<br />
in million hectares<br />
5<br />
0<br />
-5<br />
-10<br />
-15<br />
-20<br />
-25<br />
-30<br />
-18.7<br />
Africa<br />
Asia and<br />
the Pacific<br />
4.7<br />
-17 -29 -0.1<br />
Europe and<br />
Central Asia<br />
Latin America<br />
and the<br />
Caribbean<br />
3.8<br />
North<br />
America<br />
West Asia<br />
Between 1990<br />
and 1995, 56<br />
million hectares<br />
of forests were<br />
lost, a net loss of<br />
65 million<br />
hectares in<br />
developing<br />
countries being<br />
partially offset<br />
by an increase of<br />
nearly 9 million<br />
hectares in the<br />
developed world<br />
S<br />
E<br />
C<br />
T<br />
I<br />
O<br />
N<br />
1<br />
Source: compiled by UNEP GRID Geneva from UNSTAT 1997/Published in<br />
Global Environment Outlook 2000, UNEP<br />
Facts and Figures on Land Degradation<br />
• One third of the world’s land area is dry land;<br />
• 18% of all land in Southeast Asia is affected by desertification. About<br />
25% of soil degradation is directly caused by farming;<br />
• In China, over 10% of desertified land has been rehabilitated and a<br />
further 12% is being reforested;<br />
• More than three-quarters of West Asia is desert, with new<br />
land continuously coming into production by reclamation. But the<br />
productivity of reclaimed lands is only a fraction of the old;<br />
• In Africa, over 500 million hectares have been degraded, i.e. one third<br />
of the continent’s cropland and permanent pasture;<br />
• About 80 million hectares of European dry lands suffer from some<br />
degree of desertification;<br />
• The priority concerns in North America are land pollution and<br />
water contamination. Additional programmes are in place to improve<br />
agricultural practices, in order to reduce erosion and losses in land<br />
productivity;<br />
• In South America, 73% of dry land used for agriculture suffers from<br />
moderate to extreme degradation, while 47% of permanent pastures<br />
have lost much of their original fertility;<br />
• Owing to the degradation of vast areas of land, at least 63 countries<br />
can grow food for only half their people;<br />
• The area of rain-fed cropland across the world could shrink by as much<br />
as 544 million hectares by 2005. This is more than the entire potential<br />
cropland of Southeast Asia. 30% of Central America’s rain-fed cropland,<br />
and 36% of Southeast Asia’s, could be lost;<br />
• The entire potentially cultivable land of the 117 developing countries<br />
would be sufficient to support only 1.6 times the expected population<br />
of 2000, even if it were used only for food crops or as grassland<br />
supporting livestock. This potential area is at least three times greater<br />
than the present cultivated area.