Between 1990–2015, the annual rate of net forest loss has been decreased by 50 percent, according to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015, recently released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Between 1990–2015, the annual rate of net forest loss has been decreased by 50 percent, according to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015, recently released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The biggest gains in forest area were seen in China, which showed a forest area increase greater than 500,000 hectares between 1990–2015. The United States and India showed increases between 250,000–500,000 hectares. Decreases in forest area were largely concentrated in countries in Africa and South America, with Brazil showing the largest decrease with more than 500,000 hectares lost.
Although loss has decreased, forests cover less of the Earth’s land area in 2015 than they did in 1990—4.128 million hectares compared with 3.999 million hectares. The amount of trees per person has decreased from 0.8 hectares in 1990 to 0.6 hectares in 2015.
The report also showed that 93 percent of the world’s forest is natural forest versus planted forest areas, but the share of planted forests increased from 4 percent in 1990 to 7 percent in 2015. In high-income countries, 17 percent of harvested wood was used for wood fuel while 93 percent of harvested wood in low-income countries was used as fuel.
The full report is available online.
