Europe contains a total of 900 million hectares of forest lands.  West of the Ural Mountains, forests cover 27% of the land.  In the former Soviet Union, 35% of the land is covered by forests.

Europe has lost over 10% of its forest lands since the beginning of the 1960s.  To combat this, some European countries are starting reforestation programs.  The Russian Federation was especially successful in this regard, adding 3.9 million hectares from 1988 to 1993.  Spontaneous forest growth also increases total forest lands.

Now, unfortunately, Russia is losing much of its forest areas to the process of deforestation.  Forests are being cut down largely so that foreign timber companies can sell their wood.  In Georgia, deforestation is going on because the people need wood to serve as fuel.

Deforestation causes significant environmental problems.  It often leads to erosion, and can destroy natural habitats.  Often, the loss of these habitats means the loss of biodiversity.

The destruction and degradation of forest areas is increasingly causing defoliation and discoloration.

In 1993, several European countries were studied, and it was found that 22.6% of all trees were suffering from at least 25% defoliation.  The causes were said to be weather conditions, air pollution, pests and pathogens, and forest fires.

Though many causes were found for the defoliation problem, air pollution is still thought by many to be the most serious.  In a few countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic, air pollution from coal-burning power plants has been identified as the primary problem.