Miracles of Science

Though forests still cover about 30 per cent of the world's land areas, they are disappearing at an alarming rate. In the time it takes to utter the word 'deforestation', another chunk of the forest, the size of a football pitch, gets destroyed. Today, deforestation is largely taking place in the fast growing tropical and sub-tropical regions, and in the rain forests, where population density is traditionally low but is now rising. While temperate zones were deforested long ago, it is now the tropical areas that are being deforested very quickly. The rainforests, the regions of astonishing biodiversity, are now facing major disturbances and human impacts.