The world has lost nearly 100 million hectares of forests in two decades, marking a steady decline though at a slower pace than before, a UN agency reported Tuesday.

 

联合国粮农组织周二报告称，全球森林面积在20年间减少了近1亿公顷，这标志着尽管减少的速度低于以往，但森林面积在稳步下降。

 

The proportion of forest to total land area fell from 31.9 percent in 2000 to 31.2 percent in 2020, now some 4.1 billion hectares, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

 

It marks "a net loss of almost 100 million hectares of the world’s forests," the FAO said.

 

Deforestation has hit particularly hard sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia, where it has accelerated in the last decade, but also Latin and Central America, where it has nonetheless slowed down.

 

Forests are being cut down mainly to make way for crops or farm animals, especially in less developed countries.