Sunday
Aug232009
Forests of Vietnam
Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 5:53PM Vietnam has the second highest rate of deforestation of any country in the world. Over the past 50 years, the area of primary forest in this country has declined from 45% to less than 15%. This is what the outside and inside of the last 15% looks like. It was a privilege to spend the last two weeks working in these forests. May they be conserved and used wisely. [NOTE: Nigeria, apparently, has the world's highest rate of deforestation].
The beautiful understory plants are Licuala palms (see Harvesting Licuala). Both images are from Song Thanh Nature Reserve.
Reader Comments (2)
Hard for me to wrap my head around those stats !
Where does the US stand in rate of deforestation ?
The US is a unique case. There are more forests now than there were in the 1700's because of the abandonment of marginal agricultural land. See Forests of Vietnam II to get even more confused...