More forests get the chop

MX (Melbourne)
Friday 14/9/2007 Page: 8

More wood was removed from forests in 2005 than ever before, the Worldwatch Institute's annual check of the planet's health reveals. Other analysts said while that was true on a global scale, parts of Europe and North America had experienced reforestation in recent decades.

The US think-tank's Vital Signs 2007-2008 report tracked 44 global trends linked to climate change, of which 28 were "pronouncedly bad" and six positive, wind energy among the few. Rapid expansion of soybean plantations in South America could displace 22 million hectares of tropical forest and savanna in the next 20 years.