The full results of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' (FAO's) Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) 2005 were officially released on February 15. Both on-line and print versions of the report are available.

The assessment, conducted in full every five years, produces forest cover estimates for all of the countries in the world based on extensive consultation with a network of more than 800 forestry experts. The FRA is the most comprehensive forest cover data set available on a global scale.

FAO's key findings highlight a number of both negative and positive global trends. The FRA reports continued deforestation, as South America suffered the largest net loss of forests between 2000 and 2005, followed by Africa, for a combined loss of more than 41 million hectares over a five year period. The recently deforested area on these two continents, in other words, is roughly equivalent to the land area of Iraq, Greenland, or the U.S. state of California. The report also measures progress in the creation of protected areas. The addition of close to 3.4 million hectares of protected forests each year since 1990 indicates an increased awareness of the important role that forests play in soil and water conservation, avalanche control, combating desertification and coastal protection.