Efforts to combat deforestation and protect the green lungs of our planet are beginning to bear fruit. This is the finding of a new report published by the Union of Concerned Scientists (Ucs). The report, entitled "Deforestation, success stories", analyses primarily seventeen countries in which progress in the fight against deforestation is most evident. Countries such as Brazil, Vietnam and El Salvador, after having their forests stripped away for years, have now embarked on an intensive reforestation process.

At a global level, according to the research conducted by Ucs, the annual loss of tropical forests decreased by almost 20 per cent between the 1990s and the 2000s. This decline is reflected in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, which fell from 17 to 10 per cent. "The number of countries that are actively working to defend their tropical forests and the wide variety of policies and programmes adopted is remarkable," said Doug Boucher, the report's author and director of Ucs's tropical forests and climate initiatives. "There is no single strategy for halting deforestation, but a range of options."

The report therefore presents a cautiously optimistic view of the problem of tropical deforestation. "Effective protection programmes led by individuals, communities, national governments and the private sector," stated Doug Boucher, "have had positive impacts on forest conservation and socio-economic development." Despite the progress and results achieved, the report concludes, there is still much work to be done to protect forests. Some countries, such as Indonesia, continue to fell trees at an alarming rate. "All the successes achieved are partial," explained Doug Boucher, "but the path is the right one: deforestation has slowed and reforestation has increased."