Parts of Asia are losing more than 28,000 square kilometers (10,800 square miles) of forest every year, a trend that must to be reversed immediately to fight climate change, a United Nations report said on Thursday.

Deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of global greenhouse gases — trees soak up carbon dioxide when they grow and release it when they rot or are burnt.

A U.N. climate conference in Bali last year agreed to launch pilot projects to grant poor countries credits for slowing deforestation under a new long-term climate pact beyond 2012.

With 28,000 sq km of forests disappearing every year, South and Southeast Asia nations were among the most vulnerable to climate change, the report from the U.N.’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific said.

“If these trends continue, land-use emissions are likely to increase until 2050; much damage will already have been done by the time they start to recede,” it said. “Reversing deforestation is thus critical.”

Read Full Story Here