Carbon stocks in forest areas comprise carbon in living and dead organic matter both above and below ground including trees, the understorey, dead wood, litter and soil. According to the latest projections, changes in climate will mean that by 2050 the world’s ecosystems, including all its important forests, will be releasing more carbon than they are capable of absorbing.

Indonesia and Malaysia are major producers of palm oil: in 2006 these two countries accounted for 85 per cent of total world production and 88 per cent of global exports (FAO 2008). Over the past decade, the area covered by oil palms in Indonesia has quadrupled, covering 4.1 million hectares in 2006 (FAO 2008). In Latin America, cattle ranches are expanding rapidly (FAO 2007a) and, according to one study, accounted for an estimated 70 pe...

Mangrove forests occur naturally in intertidal zones along sheltered shorelines and in deltas in tropical regions. They are vital breeding grounds for fish and shrimp and also provide a buffer against coastal hazards such as storms, cyclones, wind and salt spray by reducing wind and wave action (Braatz et al. 2007).

In Latin America, cattle ranches are expanding rapidly (FAO 2007a) and, according to one study, accounted for an estimated 70 per cent of deforestation in Brazil in 2007 (Malhi et al. 2008). In the Brazilian Amazon region, ranches cover an area of at least 8.4 million hectares in total.

Growing global demand for land for the production of agricultural commodities has resulted in sometimes irreversible changes to the world’s forest cover. The Amazon is now part of a national and international economy which, through globalization, is responding to market demands, accelerating the rate at which agricultural crops and cattle ranching are replacing or impoverishing native forests (Nepstad et al. 2006).

Around the world, conflicts and wars are taking a toll on forests and on the communities that rely on them for their livelihood. Dense forests can serve as hideouts for insurgent groups or can be as a vital source of revenue for warring parties to sustain conflict.

Forest cover varies depending on how it is defined. The crown cover threshold and the land use criterion are, in most cases, the most critical factors defining forests.

Over the past 40 years, about a fifth of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest has been deforested (Reuters 2008). Official statistics show that annual deforestation has been close to 20 000 square kilometres over the last 10 years, reaching a peak of 27 429 square kilometers in 2004, and then being reduced annually to 11 224 square kilometers in 2007 (INPE 2008).

The present environmental situation – heavily influenced by climate change – could lead to a massive destruction of forests and the extinction of countless species. For example, modelling focusing on the Amazon region has indicated that 43 per cent of 193 representative plant species could become nonviable by the year 2095 due to the fact that changes in climate will have fundamentally altered the composition of species habitats (Miles...

Forests can undergo changes in various ways. Forest areas can be reduced either by deforestation or by natural disasters, which can result in the forest being unable to naturally regenerate. Conversely, forest areas can be increased – through afforestation or by the natural expansion of forests.

The ten countries with the largest forest plan tation area are supplying just under half of global demand for industrial round wood. The development of forest plan tations, however, poses problems when they replace natural forests and other valuable ecosystems.

The nature of forest product exports has changed in recent years, with exports of primary products – logsand sawnwood – being overtaken by secondary processed wood products, such as furniture and prefabricated wooden buildings.

Forests absorb carbon through photosynthesis and sequester it as biomass, thus creating a natural storage of carbon. Carbon stocks in forest areas comprise carbon in living and dead organic matter both above and below ground including trees, the understorey, dead wood, litter and soil.

Defining what constitutes a forest is not easy. Forest types differ widely, determined by factors including latitude, temperature, rainfall patterns, soil composition and human activity.

Dense forests can serve as hideouts for insurgent groups or can be as a vital source of revenue for warring parties to sustain conflict. Known cases of forests as sites of rebel camps include Colombia where left-wing guerrillas have camps deep in the Amazonian forest and in mountainous forest areas.

Some of the most serious deforestation occurs when there are various commodity booms at the domestic and international levels. At such times farmers and large agribusiness enterprises clear forest areas to plant more profitable market crops such as sugar cane and soya beans. At the present time, the production of soya beans is reaching record levels, with world soya bean production in 2006 reaching about 222 million tonnes. Brazil is ...

As the garbage pile gets higher and the environmental conscience sharpens, it is now recognized that producing waste at this rate is no longer acceptable. Now is the time for “integrated waste management” and its motto – “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” (the famous 3 Rs) – a practice that most developing countries started to apply long before it was even formulated. As waste disposal strategies evolve, the consumption rates in the developed world are que...

The Basel Convention has before it an amendment which would ban the export of hazardous waste for disposal to developing countries. Some countries (for example those in the European Union) have already implemented this proposed amendment. In addition countries like China have banned the importation of e-waste, although significant volumes are still entering the country illegally.

On a global scale, calculating the amount of waste being generated presents a problem. There are a number of issues, including a lack of reporting by many countries and inconsistencies in the way countries report (definitions and surveying methods employed by countries vary considerably). The Basel Convention has estimated the amount of hazardous and other waste generated for 2000 and 2001 at 318 and 338 millions tonnes respectively. These figure...

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is the most comprehensive global environmental agreement on hazardous and other wastes. It aims to protect human health and the environmentagainst the adverse effects resulting from the generation, management, transboundary movementsand disposal of hazardous and other wastes. The Basel Convention regulates the transboundary movements of hazardous...