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The world's old-growth forests continue to be threatened by a combination of logging, mining, and management failures, according to a new study by Global Forest Watch which has monitored woodland destruction in six areas of the world. Using advanced mapping techniques, local scientists, environmentalists associated with the monitoring, and the World Resource Institute (WRI) analyzed forests in Central Africa, Chile, Indonesia, North America, Russia, and Venezuela and concluded that at the present rate of destruction, 40 percent of existing forests will be lost over the next two decades. The notion that the planet still enjoys vast areas of virgin forest is "fast becoming a myth," said WRI's president Jonathan Lash, adding that "much of the green canopy that is left is, in reality, already crisscrossed by roads, mining, and logging concessions." Logging is the single-greatest factor contributing to forest loss, according to the study. With worldwide demand for timber at a high, governments are offering concessions to private companies without considering long-term losses and environmental damage. Corruption and illegal logging are other major problems. According to WRI figures, governments in developing countries are losing the equivalent of US$5 billion each year from their failure to collect full revenues from logging concessions, and another $10 billion as a result of illegal logging. Global Forest Watch, a coalition of some 75 groups worldwide, is working with a group of concerned businesses, including Home Depot and Sweden-based IKEA, to discourage illegal logging and irresponsible concessions through a commitment to purchase "responsibly harvested" timber. Some European banks have also agreed not to lend money for forest destruction. In Indonesia illegal logging is "rampant," accounting for an estimated 70 percent of the country's timber and possibly destroying as much as 10 million hectares of forest, according to the Forest Watch study. In Chile, meanwhile, native trees have been cut down and replaced with other species that will not support the same ecosystems, thus endangering wild plants and animals. The study also found that governments often lack coherent policies to manage forests or fail to enforce existing protection laws. In North America, for example, mapping has revealed that all but five percent of large-scale forest tracts are in Canada and Alaska, where they are not strongly protected by environmental legislation. The lower 48 states, however, retain only six percent of the region's forest cover, but nearly half is protected by law. To stem the tide of deforestation Forest Watch is working with communities in the six areas, encouraging them to monitors local woodland and speak out when illegal or destructive activities take place. Members around the world also plan to press for expanded protection laws and greater enforcement. The First Comprehensive Results of this 2-Year Mapping Effort at: http://www.globalforestwatch.org
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