Climate notes: Deforestation as climate killer

Forests are not only an extensive living space for numerous species but are also important for the storage of CO2 - this is now greatly threatened by worldwide deforestation. This contribution shows the annual changes in forest surface in the period 2000 to 2005. A particularly large amount of forest area has been cleared in recent years in tropical countries. A major cause is the increasing land requirements for the production of biofuels from palm oil, soybeans and sugar cane as well as for cattle breeding. In contrast, positive developments are reported in China and Rwanda. In China a ten-year afforestation programme was started in 2002. In recent years the forest area has grown by approximately four million hectares annually (2.2 percent). China thus accounts for 73 percent of worldwide forest expansion.