The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recently released their 2011 report on the state of the world’s forests.
According to the assessment, overall forest cover in the Caribbean islands has increased over the past decade (in the same period forests in Central and South America declined). The amount of primary forest was stable, but the amount of planted forest grew by about 3.3%, a greater increase than in Central and South America.
In the entire Latin America and Caribbean region, Cuba has the highest proportion of “forest area designated for protective functions”, with Trinidad and Tobago also highly ranked.
Guyana and Haiti were among the countries with the largest proportion of their forests designated primarily for production; I was surprised to read that 97% of Guyana’s forest are designated as being primarily for productive purposes.
The report is freely available at the FAO website: to check it out for yourself click here.
Previously on Green Antilles: International Year of Forests, 2011.
