Monbiot at odds with UN on deforestation

Monbiot says that, along with the catastrophic oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, deforestation in the US is proof that richer does not mean greener.

Strange claim considering that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says that “forest cover in [North America] is stable”, accounting for about 2% of global deforestation in recent years. Most of that loss happened in Mexico, “...while the United States reported a small net gain in forest area for the period" [2000-2005, same as the period of the study cited by Monbiot].