"Close to 1.6 billion people - more than 25% of the world's population - rely on forest resources for their livelihoods and most of them (1.2 billion) use trees on farms to generate food and cash." Despite these figures, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations explains that data on these vital forest resources is "sketchy or not available." On the left hand side of the page...

This online "open" book was edited by world renowned experts Peter H. Raven and Tania Williams and was produced in 2000 by the Committee for the Second Forum on Biodiversity (National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council). Available for browsing only, the document spans nine chapters -- from "Defining Biodiversity" to "Examples of Sustainability."

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization provides this book (Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] format only), which "presents information on the current status of the world's forests, major developments over the reporting period (1995-1997), and recent trends and future directions in the forestry sector." SOFO provides information on global forest cover, including estimates for 1995, change from...