Introduction

This chapter focuses on Asia's dwindling forests. Some 5,000 hectares of Southeast Asia's rainforests are destroyed each day, with less than ten percent of this area being replanted. Deforestation has received far more attention than any other environmental problem in Asia, and especially in relation to the region's tropical rain forests. Asia is the home of many of the world's largest and most rapidly growing cities, and most of these cities face serious environmental problems. Deforestation is a serious problem throughout the rest of mainland Southeast Asia as well. Prolonged periods of warfare severely damaged forests in Vietnam and, to a lesser extent, Laos and Cambodia. Nepal's forest cover has been drastically reduced as a result of cutting wood for fuel, clearing forest for agriculture, overgrazing and the use of tree products for fodder, in addition to commercial cutting, and little reforestation. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.