UN General Assembly
2012

services will remain for us. With this programme, as we take care of our forests, we are also providing income to the poorest communities, who have never had income before. In the six years of the programme, we have planted 1.3 billion trees in our country. I recall a United Nations programme five years ago that aimed at planting 1 billion trees around the world. We took part in that programme enthusiastically. We have planted 1.3 billion trees in six years and designated 3.5 million hectares as protected natural areas. A promising result of that effort is that, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, Mexico has reduced its net deforestation rate from 350,000 hectares annually in the 1990s to 150,000 between 2005 and 2010. I am sure that we will have reduced it further between 2010 and 2012. Our hope is that not only will we achieve a rate of zero this decade, but that we will reverse deforestation around the world. With respect to that challenge, working with the United Nations, we were pleased to organize the