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Frequent Asked Questions

Tropical forests?

What?
there are many definitions for forests, tropics and tropical forests. The definition of forest TBI uses is the one by FAO in FRA 2000: ecosystems with a minimum of 10% crown canopy cover and area of more than 0.5 ha. of trees and/or bamboo. More information on definitions can be found in a paper by Gyde Lund 'A 'forest' by any other name'

Where & how much

Tropical forests can be found in Latin America, Africa, South East Asia, Australia and the Pacific. A detailed map of the different (tropical) forests is available at WCMC.
The estimations on how much tropical forest is left differ. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) estimated in 2000 a total of 1791 million ha tropical forest cover (FRA 2000). Other estimated like WNF are much lower (1220 million ha)

Threats
During the period of 1980-2000, the leading causes of deforestation were the extension of subsistence farming, and government-backed conversion of forests to other land uses such as large-scale ranching or commercial monoculture plantations. Estimated on tropical deforestation differ between 7 and 17 million ha annually.
More information and maps:

  • FAO's forestry resource assessment FRA 2000 and State of the Forests (SOFO)

  • WRI Global Forest Watch

  • UNEP-WCMC Forests and Drylands Programme

    Biodiversity

    Biological diversity - or biodiversity - is the term given to the variety of life on Earth and the natural patterns it forms. This diversity is often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms. So far, about 1.75 million species have been identified, mostly small creatures such as insects. Scientists reckon that there are actually about 13 million species, though estimates range from 3 to 100 million. Some figures are given in the table.

    Kingdom
    Number of described species
    estimates
    lowest
    working
    highest
    Virus 5000 50,000 500,000 1,000,000
    Prokaryotes 4000 50,000 1,100,000 3,000,000
    Protocista 80,000 250,000 600,000 1,200,000
    Fungi 72,000 200,000 1,500,000 2,700,000
    Plant 270,000 300,000 320,000 500,000
    Animal 1,320,000 2,825,000 9,800,000 103,225,000

    The total number of known species is 1,75 million, while a rough 13,6 million species (working estimate) are yet undiscribed; 87%.

    Biodiversity also includes genetic differences within each species - for example, between varieties of crops and breeds of livestock. Chromosomes, genes, and DNA-the building blocks of life-determine the uniqueness of each individual and each species. Yet another aspect of biodiversity is the variety of ecosystems such as those that occur in deserts, forests, wetlands, mountains, lakes, rivers, and agricultural landscapes.

    More information on biodiversity:
  • Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
  • Biodiversity Conservation Information System (BCIS)
  • International Species Information System (ISIS)

  • World Conservation Union (IUCN)

    Certification

    Forest Certification is the process by which the performance of on-the-ground forestry operations are assessed against a predetermined set of standards. Such standards are descirbed as Principles, Criterias and Indicators. There are different ceritification schemes both global, regional and also local. Some examples are:

  • Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
  • International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO)
  • Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute (LEI)

  • Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

    Under FSC 28 million ha (421 forest management certificates) have been certified in 56 countries.

    Fires

    Fire is an important factor in almost all vegetation zones in the world. Sometimes it is part of the ecological cycle of a particular ecosystem. Forest fires influence global systems like the global carbon cycle. In addition the use of fire as land-management tool is a widely distributed practices in societies worldwide. More information on forest fires:

  • Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC)
  • Disaster Management Support Project of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellite (CEOS)
  • World Fire Web