Facts and figures
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A
family in Bhutan transports fuelwood
FAO/16922
/N. Tashi
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- Forests are home to 300 million people
around the world.
- Between 1990 and 1995 the area covered by
natural or semi-natural forests in developing
countries decreased annually by more than
11 million hectares.
- Deforestation of closed tropical rain
forests could account for the loss of as many
as 100 species a day.
- Forests provide habitats to about two-thirds
of all species on Earth.
- In Côte d'Ivoire, harvesting giant
snails in the buffer zone around Tai National
Park provides a source of food and income: each
snail provides some 100 to 300 g of meat
and the shells provide calcium for animal feed
or crop fertilizer.
- More than 20 tonnes of mushrooms,
mainly chanterelles, are gathered and consumed
every year by the 700 000 or so residents
of the Upper Shaba area of Zaire.
- Kalimantan in Indonesia is an important
centre of genetic variation for tropical fruit
trees, including mango, breadfruit and durian.
Of 16 species of mango in East Kalimantan
Province, 13 are edible.
- Collecting, extracting and processing the
kernels of the fruit of the babassu palm
provides an estimated 25 percent of
household income for 300 000 families in
Brazil's Maranhao State.
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