People, Forests and Forestry Extra Credit Paper Essay

People, Forests and Forestry Extra Credit Paper - Essay Example In 2005, a total of 734 million hectares or 19% of the world’s forest can be found in Asia. But due to the problematic effects of deforestation and invasion of human activities in the forest, the highest rate of decline in forest area can be found in the Southeast Asia, which is 2.8 million hectares every year (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2007). The study conducted is focused on one of the six countries with the highest decline in forest area which is the Philippines. It ranks fourth to Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia, the problematic areas in Southeast Asia with regards to deforestation (FAO UN, 2007). The Philippines is recognized as one of the countries in Southeast Asia to have great primary forests but due to the deforestation activities, significant percentage of the country’s forested areas had been denuded. For this matter, a study on the present state of the forests in the Philippines is the main focus of the research conducted. The immediate solution is required in the issues related to deforestation in the Philippines due to the continuous effects that can be observed in the state of the land, the livelihood and the biodiversity of the country. Based on the results of forest area studies, from 1995 to 2005 one third of the forest cover had been denuded (Butler, 2009). The country is even known to be included in the group of Southeast Asian countries with the highest deforestation rate as shown in Figure 1. The forest cover of the Philippines is 24% of the total land area which is equivalent to 7,162,000 hectares. Of the said forest area 829,000 hectares are classified as primary forest which is equivalent to 2.8% of the total forest area (Butler, 2009). In terms of the deforestation rates, in the period from 1995-2005 the rate of decrease of forested area in the Philippines is 2%. From 2000-2005 the update is that the