Our Forests In less than one hundred years over half of the forest has now been cut and burned, leaving whole areas fo the earth bare and unprotected, rendering entire regions lifeless. In less than one hundred years over half of the forest has now been cut and burned, leaving whole areas fo the earth bare and unprotected, rendering entire regions lifeless. Over fifty million acres of tropical rain forest are destroyed every year, enough trees to fill all of England and Scotland combined. The U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that if the rate of destruction continues, by the turn of the century (2000 A.D.) over one fifth of the rain forest will be eliminated. Fueled by rampant logging, clearing for agriculture and the most destructive El Nino in recent history, massive fires are devastating the world's tropical forests, threatening endangered species such as orangutans, clouded leopards and many rare forest birds. The latest round of fires threatens to eclipse last year's fires, which many considered the worst in recent history. In what has been described as "the worst fire ever in the Brazilian Amazon," a 250-mile-long line of fire destroyed about 15 percent of the Roraima State's savanna and forest before rains slowed the fires April 1. Covering an area the size of Belgium, the fires devastated about two thirds of the plants, animals and other biodiversity in the burned region. Over 300,000 acres of forest has burned in Indonesia's East Kalimantan, and over 5,000 people are suffering from smog-related diseases. Fires in the Philippines, where few trees remain from years of heavy logging, have resulted in two deaths and the loss of dozens of houses. Four days of global military spending, which is estimated to run about $8 billion, could finance a five-year action plan to protect the world's remaining tropical rain forests. While most of Malaysia is relatively clear of haze, certain parts, such as Siri in Sarawak, has been suffering from pollution indexes of above 500, which is considered hazardous to human health. Last year's haze cost the people of Southeast Asia $1.4 billion, mostly in short- term health costs, according to a study conducted by the Indonesia Program of WWF and the Singapore-based Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA). Another study is currently underway to determine the long-term costs to human health and wildlife. Fires are also destroying forests and wildlife in Vietnam, Thailand, Mongolia, Russia, Australia, Rwanda and several other countries. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in 1995 reached the highest level ever recorded --29,000 square kilometers, an area equivalent to New Jersey and Connecticut in a single burning season. --Environmental Defense Fund