Chapter V

RESULTS

Table 1: Socio-economic data

The average annual rate of demographic growth of 3 per cent for the countries of the region is very high with respect to the world average of 1.9 per cent. Demographic pressure on the lands is therefore very strong even though the average population density is relatively low (22 inhabitants/km²) on account of the immense desert areas and arid zones.

Table 2 - State of information on forest resources

Note: * See bibliography

Information on forest resources at regional level is very poor. Only three countries have performed a forest inventory by 1990, of which two dated from 1965. The essential information on forest resources comes from expert estimates based on national statistics. Information on wood volumes only exists for the three countries which have performed a forest inventory, and information on biomass is only available for one country. Thus there is an urgent need to assess forest areas and volumes by means of forest inventories, as well as by monitoring their development by a remote sensing observation system.

Table 3 - State of forest cover in 1990

Natural forests cover only 0.8 per cent of the lands, and total wooded lands 2.5 per cent. The other wooded lands are predominant and represent 62 per cent of the total forested area. Forested area per inhabitant here is 0.03 ha/inhabitant. This figure is significantly below the world average of 0.60 ha/inhabitant. However, major plantation programmes (in particular in the context of the fight against desertification) bring these figures to 20 per cent of total forest area.

Table 4 - Potential and actual forest areas

The current forest area represents only 5.2 per cent of the potential forest area (according to the ecological potential of the lands). Conversely, the potential forest area represents 15 per cent of the total land area.

The current forest area essentially reflects the age old demographic pressure which is rife in the region. The very processes of deforestation and forest degradation must be reversed if the potential forest cover is to be reconstituted, by means of putting the necessary measures in place not only to preserve the existing forest capital, but also to extend it.

Table 5 - Rate of change of forest areas between 1981 and 1990

The average annual compound rate of deforestation between 1981 and 1990 was -1.1 per cent for countries of the Mediterranean region, and thus it is higher than the rate in tropical countries, which is -0.8 per cent. At this rate of deforestation, the natural forest should theoretically disappear in 63 years.

Plantations, however, have made relative progress, with an annual average growth rate of 6.4 per cent between 1981 and 1990; this figure, however, is still significantly lower than the corresponding figure for tropical countries (9.5 per cent).