ABSTRACT
The deforestation of tropical rain forest is a major global environmental problem, occurring in more than sixty countries simultaneously. If it continues unchanged at current rates very little tropical rain forest will remain in a hundred years’ time, although Chapter 4 urged caution in projecting current rates into the future. But how big a problem is it really? This is not an academic question, for the size of the annual deforestation rate critically affects the degree of public and political concern about the problem: the higher the estimate, the more likely policy makers are to take action to control deforestation. The degree of uncertainty attached to estimates also has an influence. Sadly, until 1992 we did not know either the total area or deforestation rate for tropical rain forest, only the figures for tropical moist forest (see Chapter 1), and these were very inaccurate, making it difficult also to assess the long-term impacts of deforestation on global climate, biological diversity and tropical hardwood supplies. This chapter reviews the estimates made over the last 20 years of the deforestation rate for tropical moist forest, examines their reliability, and suggests how to obtain better estimates in the future.
