Argentina, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela
Forest cover varies greatly within the group, which ranges from very heavily forested countries (Belize, Brazil, Suriname, Guyana) to countries with a small percent of land area in forest (Barbados, Haiti, El Salvador, Uruguay). SELA's membership includes all the Amazon basin countries, which accounts for the region's large amount of forest area, representing 27 percent of the world's forest cover. The countries together are important wood producers, particularly of sawnwood and fuelwood and charcoal (12 and 7 percent respectively of the value of world trade) but also of other wood products. SELA is a significant exporter of paper pulp and fuelwood and charcoal and is a significant importer of paper products. The region's tropical forests have global significance in terms of biological diversity conservation and carbon storage.
|
Land area (thousand ha) |
2 006 085 |
Total forest area, 1995 (thousand ha) |
941 565 |
Percent of land in forest (%) |
46.9 |
Forest area per caput (ha) |
2.0 |
Annual change in forest area, 1990-1995 (thousand ha) |
-5 802 |
Percent annual change, 1990-1995 (%) |
- 0.6 |
|
Product |
Quantity |
% of world total |
Fuelwood and charcoal |
255 103 a |
14 |
Industrial roundwood |
142 114 a |
9 |
Sawnwood |
32 783 a |
8 |
Wood panels |
6 948 a |
5 |
Pulp for paper |
10 292 b |
6 |
Paper and paperboard |
12 583 b |
4 |
|
Product |
Export value |
Import value |
||||
Export quantity |
thousand US$ |
% of world total |
Import quantity |
thousand US$ |
% of world total |
|
Fuelwood and charcoal |
556 a |
20 352 |
7 |
78 a |
1 870 |
1 |
Industrial roundwood |
10 146 a |
542 965 |
5 |
200 a |
40 284 |
n.s. |
Sawnwood |
4 074 a |
1 089 315 |
4 |
1 710 a |
414 070 |
1 |
Wood panels |
2 253 a |
793 527 |
5 |
864 a |
294 407 |
2 |
Pulp for paper |
4 046 b |
1 953 612 |
12 |
1 115 b |
623 682 |
3 |
Paper and paperboard |
1 855 b |
1 526 489 |
2 |
4 267 b |
3 671 159 |
6 |
a Thousand m3.
b Thousand tonnes.