Think of tropical deforestation, and the image that comes most readily to mind is of chainsaws chewing their way through the Amazon basin. But the popular perception that the rain forests of Brazil represent the most threatened of the world's tropical forest ecosystems needs overhauling, according to a new assessment from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The Amazon rain forests are being cleared at an alarming rate, the new study shows, but rain forests in some other regions, along with other tropical forest types, are in an even more parlous state. South America accounts for the largest absolute losses, but in terms of percentages, Southeast Asia and Central America are losing their forests at a faster rate. Also, moist deciduous and upland forests are disappearing at a faster rate than the rain forests.
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Peter Aldhous (1993) studied this question.