Deforestation is one of the most significant issues of our time; considerable measures must be taken to prevent further pillaging of our unique forest resource. Ninety percent of the earths trees between three and four hundred years old have been cut down. The remaining ten percent is all we will ever have (Gallant, 97). The definition of deforestation by the Random House Dictionary of the English Language is "to divest or clear of forests or trees. Deforestation is one of the most significant issues of our time; considerable measures must be taken to prevent further pillaging of our unique forest resource. There are approximately four-hundred million hectares of forest in the world, nearly twenty-five percent of the world's land area. Close to fifty-eight percent of the forests are found in the temperate/boreal regions and forty-two percent in the tropics. During the last millennium people have survived utilizing the forests. Forest products range from simple fuel-wood and building poles to sophisticated natural medicines, high-tech wood based manufacturing materials and paper products. Environmental benefits include water flow control, soil conservation, and atmospheric purification. Brazil's Amazon contains half of the worlds tropical rain forests. The forests cover a region ten times the size of Texas. Only about ten percent of Brazil's rain forests have been cut to date but cutting goes on at an uncontrollable rate (Westoby, 177). Since pre-agricultural times the world's forests have declined in size approximately twenty percent. Temperate forests have lost thirty-five percent of their area. Sub-tropical woody savannas and deciduous forests have lost twenty-five percent. Evergreen forests which are now under the most pressure have lost six percent; they are inaccessible and sparsely populated and have lost the least. With new technology such as satellites systems, low altitude photography and side looking radar scie...
