Forests and other wooded land together cover about
one-third of the Asia and the Pacific region.
Excluding the Russian Federation, forest area in 2005
was estimated at 734 million hectares, accounting for
about 19 percent of global forest area. The region as a
whole experienced a net increase in forest area of about
633 000 ha annually during 2000-2005. This
is an important breakthrough, since the region had
experienced a net loss of forest cover during the 1990s. The improvement was largely the result of an increase of more
The Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC (IPCC AR4) Working Group II (2007) identifies small island states as being among the most vulnerable countries of the world to the adverse impacts of climate change. Hay, el al.y (2003) in discussing the Pacific's observed climate noted that compared to earlier historical records during the twentieth century, the southern Pacific had experienced a significantly drier and warmer climate (by 15 percent and 0.8°C, respectively).