In the previous decade, the annual loss of global forest cover amounted to 16 million hectares (39.5 million acres). That's according to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which issues an international forest report every five years.

The highest losses were in South America (around four million hectares each year) and Africa (3.4 million hectares each year). In contrast to that, around seven million hectares of forestland are reforested each year through projects in the United States, China, India and Vietnam.

Overall, global forest cover amounts to four billion hectares - that's slightly less than a third of the world's land cover. The world's forests store around 290 billion tons of carbon dioxide.

But it's estimated that around half a billion tons of carbon dioxide have escaped back into the atmosphere each year due to the loss of forest cover between 2000 and 2010.

Author: Alexa Meyer (sp)
Editor: Mark Mattox