129 million hectares lost to deforestation

NaijaAgroNet

About 129 million hectares of forest, an area almost equivalent in size to South Africa, have been lost since 1990, NaijaAgroNet reports.

The world's forests continue to shrink as populations increase and forest land is converted to agriculture and other uses, but over the past 25 years the rate of net global deforestation has slowed down by more than 50 per cent, according to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) comprehensive forest report-- The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015-- published today, September7.

The FAO study covers 234 countries and territories and was presented at this week's World Forestry Congress in Durban, South Africa.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, launching the report in Durban, said, "Forests play a fundamental role in combating rural poverty, ensuring food security and providing people with livelihoods. And they deliver vital environmental services such as clean air and water, the conservation of biodiversity and combating climate change,"

"The direction of change is positive, but we need to do better. We will not succeed in reducing the impact of climate change and promoting sustainable development if we do not preserve our forests and sustainably use the many resources they offer us," he added.
Meanwhile, the net annual rate of forest loss has slowed from 0.18 per cent in the early 1990s to 0.08 per cent during the period 2010-2015, NaijaAgroNet learnt.

Africa and South America had the highest net annual loss of forests in 2010-2015, with 2.8 and 2 million hectares respectively, but the report notes how the rate of loss has "substantially decreased" from the previous five year period.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE
 
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China lifts 138m citizens out of chronic hunger

 NaijaAgroNet

The Republic of China has said the country effectively lifted 138 million citizens out of chronic hunger since 1990 and have reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the prevalence of hunger ahead of the 2015 deadline, NaijaAgroNet reports.

This revelation, NaijaAgroNet reports, was made during the signing of a $50 million, about N9.94 billion agreement between China and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to support developing countries in building sustainable food systems including agricultural value chains, recognizing the growing importance of collaboration between Southern countries in the fight against extreme hunger and poverty. 

Mr. Wang Yang, Vice Premier, China, NaijaAgroNet learnt, said, "China is the leading agricultural producer among the developing countries; FAO is the world's top agricultural organization. We are ready to enhance our cooperation with FAO, which will not only benefit agricultural development and progress toward hunger reduction targets, but also the poor and hungry people of the world."

NaijaAgroNet reports that China's new contribution to the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Trust Fund will support the exchange of Chinese agricultural experts with countries in the global South, particularly in low-income food-deficit areas of Central Asia, the Pacific Islands, Africa and Latin America, over a period of five years.

The Trust Fund has supported knowledge exchanges through 11 country projects and two global initiatives in areas such as irrigation, horticulture, livestock protection, and food processing and marketing. 

During the first phase, Chinese experts deployed to host countries will stay for two-to-three years, train local farmers in using adaptable and affordable technologies for crop, animal and water management, while the second phase will expand on the lessons learned so far, sharing best practices and supporting host countries in developing sound policies, building institutional capacities, facilitating the transfer of new technologies, working with research centres and other partners. 

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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