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Abstract
During the last two decades, agricultural expansion, logging, development, and other human activities caused the deforestation of more than 120,000 square kilometers each year. In contrast, an area only one-tenth that size was regained due to reforestation efforts and natural re-growth. This is the continuation of an historical process that has left the world with less than half of its original forests. While population growth and density are unquestionably related to forest cover trends, there is no simple way to describe or predict that association. Not surprisingly, the relationship is as complex as the regional and cultural variations in human societies and the changes in those societies over time.