Many of Earth’s Forests Have Been Cleared or Degraded

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The Current State of the Earth’s Original Forests

Over the past 8,000 years, nearly one half of the forests that once covered the Earth have been converted to farms, pastures, and other uses. According to a 1997 World Resources Institute (WRI) assessment, just one fifth of the Earth’s original forest remains in large, relatively natural ecosystems -- what are known as “frontier forests.” For more information see http://www.wri.org/trends/deforest.html.

Source: Dirk Bryant, Daniel Nielsen, and Laura Tangley, The Last Frontier Forests: Ecosystems and Economies on the Edge, available at http://www.wri.org/ffi/lff-eng/ (World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C., 1997), p. 12.