LONDON (Bloomberg) -- Deforestation is slowing in East Asia and the Pacific because of economic prosperity and more careful management, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

The world lost 3 percent of its forests between 1990 and 2005, the organization said today in an e-mailed copy of its State of the World's Forests Report. During that period, the amount of land covered by forests increased in East Asia and the Pacific “where large investments in forest plantations in China were high enough to offset high rates of deforestation in other areas,” the Rome-based organization said.

Economic growth “may help to create the conditions of sustainable forest management,” the organization said, as more attention is being paid to the conservation of soil, water, biological diversity and other environmental issues.

Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean lost the most woodland, according to the report. Africa, which accounts for about 16 percent of the world's forests, lost 9 percent between 1990 and 2005.

Latin America and the Caribbean, home to almost half of the world's woodland, reported an increase in its annual net loss to 0.51 percent from 0.46 percent between 2000 and 2005, the organization said. Europe and North America reported net increases during the same period.

Forests may be “profoundly affected by climate change,” because of increased incidents of fires, pests and outbreaks of disease, the FAO said.