Jamaica - Forestry

By the late 1980s, only 185,000 hectares (457,000 acres) of Jamaica's original 1,000,000 hectares (2,500,000 acres) of forest remained. Roundwood production increased from 55,000 cu m (1.9 million cu ft) in 1981 to 220,000 cu m (7.8 million cu ft) in 1988 and to 881,000 cu m (31.1 million cu ft) in 2000. About 68% of the timber cut in 2000 was used as fuel wood. The Forestry Department began a reforestation program in 1963 that was scheduled to last for 30 years; the target was to plant 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of timber a year. During the 1990s, reforestation averaged 5,000 hectares (12,300 acres) a year.