Forests under threat – study

The report, by the Jakarta-based Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), urged delegates at a UN climate meeting in Poznan, Poland, from December 1-12 to work out new ways to safeguard forests in developing nations. It said climate change could have impacts ranging from a drying out of cloud forests in mountainous regions of Central America - making wildfires more frequent - to swamping mangroves in Asia as seas rise. "Unless immediate action is taken, climate change could have a devastating effect on the world's forests and the nearly one billion people who depend on them for their livelihoods," a statement said.