Rate of global forest loss halved, says UN

But global decline continues and woodland the size of South Africa has been lost since 1990, reports UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation

The rate at which the world is losing its forests has been halved, but an area of woodland the size of South Africa has still been lost since 1990, a UN report said on Monday.

Improvement has been seen around the globe, even in the key tropical rainforests of South America and Africa, according to a surprisingly upbeat Forest Resources Assessment (FRA), which is released every five years.