About 13 million hectares of forests are destroyed around the world each year, an area the size of Greece, although the net loss of trees has finally slowed thanks mainly to new plantations, the United Nations said on Monday.
Here are key facts about the world's forests:
-- Russia has the largest area under forests -- 850 million hectares (2.1 billion acres) -- taking up just over half the country's land area.
-- Tropical forests account for more than half world's forest area and boreal/polar forests one quarter.
-- More than 8,000 tree species -- 10 percent of the world's total -- are threatened with extinction.
-- Forests are home to 300 million people around the world and more than 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihoods.
-- The global annual trade in forest products is worth some $270 billion. Losses due to illegal cutting of forests are estimated at $10 billion.
-- Forests provide habitats to about two-thirds of all species on earth.
-- Wood energy accounts for 7 to 9 percent of energy consumed worldwide. More than 2 billion people depend on wood fuel for cooking, heating and food preservation.
Sources: Food and Agriculture Organization (www.fao.org); World Bank (www.worldbank.org); Global Trees Campaign (www.globaltrees.org)
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