U Nderstanding the Fra 2000

Abstract

This Briefing Note has been prepared by the World Resources Institute in response to the launch of the Forest Resources Assessment 2000. It comments on the methodology and principal findings of the new FAO report and makes the following observations: Global deforestation is probably not slowing down, even though FAOs results can be interpreted to suggest that it is. The confusion arises because FAO focuses on a net rate of global forest change in which destruction of natural forests is offset by plantation estab- lishment. Natural forest loss in the tropics appears to have accelerated. Tracking long-term trends in forest cover has been made more difficult because FAO has produced new estimates of global forest cover for 1990 that are much higher than previous estimates made for that year. The quality of forest data in many developing countries is still too poor to draw firm conclu- sions. Some developed country data are also unreliable. At the beginning of the 21st cen- tury, official intergovernmental processes do not produce consistent and replicable esti- mates of the worlds forested area. The FAO has made a heroic effort in the face of great technical, institutional, and financial constraints. There is an urgent need for greater efforts at national and international levels to improve the quality and timeliness of information available.