where is the majority of deforestation currently taking place
Deforestation by region Africa is suffering deforestation at twice the world rate, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).[2][3][4] Some sources claim that deforestation has already wiped out roughly 90% of West Africa's original forests.[5][6] Deforestation is accelerating in Central Africa.[7] According to the FAO, Africa lost the highest percentage of tropical forests of any continent during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s.[8] According to the figures from the FAO (1997), only 22.8% of West Africa's moist forests remain, much of this degraded.[9] Nigeria has lost 81% of its old-growth forests in just 15 years (1990â€“2005).[10] Massive deforestation threatens food security in some African countries.[11] One factor contributing to the continent's high rates of deforestation is the dependence of 90% of its population on wood as fuel for heating and cooking.[12]
Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest (Portuguese: Floresta Amazônica or Amazônia; Spanish: Selva Amazónica, Amazonía or usually Amazonia; French: Forêt amazonienne; Dutch: Amazoneregenwoud), also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 km2 (2,700,000 sq mi), of which 5,500,000 km2 (2,100,000 sq mi) are covered by the rainforest. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations. The majority of the forest is contained within Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. States or departments in four nations contain "Amazonas" in their names. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests,[1] and comprises the largest and most biodiverse tract of tropical rainforest in the world, with an estimated 390 billion individual trees divided into 16,000 species.[2]