Latin America urged to take measures to stop deforestation
acques Diouf, director general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), on Friday urged Latin American and Caribbean nations to adopt effective measures to stop deforestation.

Jacques Diouf told reporters at the end of the FAO's 29th Latin American and Caribbean conference that the world's forest land had been reduced by 125 million hectares from 1990-2005, and that 55 percent of the reduction took place in Latin America and the Caribbean, although the region accounts for only 23 percent of the world's forests.

He called on the region to "correct the situation with a program of sustainable use."

Diouf also said the region is in "a good position" to reach the 2015 millennium development goals agreed upon in 1996 at Rome's World Food Summit to halve the number of hungry people.

However, he said that some areas of Latin America were slipping back: Central America's malnourished had risen to 14.1 million in 2001-2003, from 12.7 million in 1990-1992, going against the worldwide trend.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, distribution and access to food for the poorest was the problem, not a shortage of output, he said.

The 2006 meeting brought together 33 agriculture ministers from the region. The FAO regional meeting is held every two years and the next one will be in Brazil in 2008.