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Changes through Times on the Amount of Forest in the World

The worlds forests fulfill many roles. They provide renewable row materials and
energy, maintain biological diversity, mitigate climate change, protect land and
water recourses, provide recreation facilities, improve air quality and help alleviate
poverty. At the same time forest are affected by fire, air pollution, pest and invasive
species, and are often the primary targets of agricultural and urban expansion.

The worlds forest

Total forest area in 2009 was estimated to be around 30% of the planets land area,
just under 40 million km 2 This corresponds to an average of 0.62 ha (6200 km 2)
per capita, though this is unevenly distributed. This estimate was based on data
on forest area reported by 228 countries and territories.
Based on available information, total area of other woods lad is estimated to be at
least 1 376 million hectares about one third of total forest area. This category
suffered form reclassification problems, particularly in dry zones such as those in
Australia, Kenya and Sudan, in which the distinction between forest and other
wooded land is not very clear. Total area of other land with tree cover is at least 76
million hectares. These two estimates, particularly the latter, were limited by lack of
information, and the true extent of other land with tree cover is undoubtedly much
higher.

Ten countries with largest forest area in 2009 (million ha)

Among world regions, Europe (which for the purpose of this investigation includes
de Russian Federation) accounts for the one-quarter of total forest area, followed
by South America and then North and Central America. South America is the
region with the highest percentage of forest cover (almost half of the land area)
and Asia is the region with the lowest percentage of forest cover (less than 20% of
the land area).
Then ten most forest-rich countries account for 66 percent of total forest area. The
remaining 34 percent is spread among 212 countries and areas, seven countries
and areas (the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, the Holy See, Monaco, Nauru, South
Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and Tokelau) reported having no areas that
qualify as forest using the FRA 2005 definition.
High and low forests cover countries. Forty-five countries and areas have than half
their total land area covered by forests, and 11 of these have more than 75 percent
of their total land area covered. Most of these are small island states or territories,
but the list also includes three low-lying coastal states in South America and one
country in the Congo Basin
Sixty four countries and areas have less than 10 percent of their total land area
covered by forests. These include many SIDS and dependent territories, as well as
17 larger countries with relatively substantial forest areas (more than 1 million
hectares each). Three of these (Chad, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Mongolia)
have more than 10 million hectares of forest, but still qualify as LFCCs.

Forest Characteristics (2009)

It is impossible to overstate the importance of humankinds clearing of the forests.


The transformation of forested lands by human actions represents one of the great
forces in global environmental change and one of the great drivers of biodiversity
loss. The impact of people has been and continues to be profound. Forests are
cleared, degraded and fragmented by timber harvest, conversion to agriculture,
road-building, human-caused fire, and in myriad other ways. The effort to use and
subdue the forest has been a constant theme in the transformation of the earth, in
many societies, in many lands, and at most times. Deforestation has important
implications for life on this planet.
Originally, almost half of the United States, three-quarters of Canada, almost all of
Europe the plains of the Levant, and much of the rest world were forested. The
forests have been mostly removed for fuel, building materials and to clear land for
farming. The clearing of the forests has been one of the most historic and
prodigious feats of humanity

Area of Forest Ecosystems

About one half of the forests covered the earth are gone. Each year, another 16
million hectares disappear. The World Resources Institute estimates that only
about 22% of the worlds (old growth) original forest cover remains intact most
of this three large areas : the Canadian and Alaskan boreal forest, the boreal forest
of Russia, and the topical forest of the northwestern Amazon Basin and the
Guyana Shield (Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Colombia, etc.)
Today, forests cover more than one quarter of the worlds total land area, excluding
Polar Regions. Slightly more than 50% of the forests are found in the tropics and
the rest are temperate and boreal (coniferous northern forest) zones.
Seven countries (Russia, Brazil, Canada, The United States, China, Indonesia, and
the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) account for more than 60% of
the total.
For millennia, humankind has influenced the forests, although much of the impact
has been relatively minor. Today, the impact is enormous. Deforestation is
expanding and accelerating into the remaining areas of undisturbed forest, and the
quality of the remaining forests is declining. Today we examine global patterns in
deforestation, asses the human and ecological costs of forests loss, and discuss
some of the steps that can help to rectify this alarming situation.

Red = Frontier Forests, 8,000 years ago


Green = Frontier Forests Today
Pink = Current non-frontier forests

Until quite recently, most of the deforestation occurred in Europe, North Africa, and
the Middle East. By the beginning of this century, these regions had been mostly
converted from the original cover. Now, deforestation in these has stabilized and
regrowth is occurring (though second growth forests have quite different character,
see below). In the last few decades, the vast majority of deforestation has occurred

in the tropics and the pace still accelerates. The removal of tropical forests in
Latin America is proceeding at a pace of about 2% per year. In Africa, the pace is
about 0.8% per year and in Asia it is 2% per year.
The USA has already experienced its wave of deforestation, with the exception of
small areas in the west and Alaska. Our old growth forests were mostly harvested
by 1920, particularly in the East. Pacific Northwest forests and UP Michigan forests
were heavily cut after 1920 until quite recently, and harvest of old growth continues
today in Southeast Alaska. Interestingly, deforestation rates at their peak in
Midwest were 2% annually; about the rates now see in Amazonia. At that rate, how
much of existing forest will remain in 70 years? Just one-fourth. However, much
forest re-growth has occurred in the eastern USA during the 20th Century, although
these second-growth forests differ in structure and composition from their
predecessors.

Area of primary forests in the United States (lower 48)


(around 1620, top; and 1850 middle; 1920, bottom)

The worlds tropical forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. A recent estimate
is that about 100,000km2 is deforested each year, and another 100,000km2 is
degraded. Estimates are constantly improving, based on satellite imagery, and
deforestation rates change in response to social and economic conditions, as well
as quality of remaining forest. NASAs Landsat (satellite) cannot see below the
forest canopy, and so cannot detect below-canopy clearing, whereas radar remote
sensing can detect, e.g., a coffee plantation beneath over story trees.
Tropical forests once occupied 16 million km2, today about 8-9million km2 remain
It is that Latin America and Asia have already lost 40% of their forest; Africa a little
more the half. In many countries the rate of deforestation is accelerating. For
example, most of the forested areas of Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Sri
Lanka and parts Brazils rain forest could be gone by the end of the century
Only Congo Basin and some of the more isolated areas of the Amazon Basin does
the forest remain largely intact.

Biological Diversity of the Amazon

Brazil contains about 3.5 million km2 of tropical forest. This is equivalent to 30% of
the worlds total. Almost all of Brazils standing tropical forests are in the Amazon
Basin, a region commonly known as Amazonia. About half of Amazonia comprises
upland areas in which the original vegetation was tropical rain forest. Perhaps
another 0.5 million km2 consist of transitional forests. In addition, there are large
areas of savanna in the southern reaches of Amazonia
Amazonia has been characterized as the single richest region of the tropical
biome.

Satellite data showing the amount of land cover classified as Deforested at 4 dates between 1975 and 1988. Note how
much higher deforestation rates were in 1988 compared to earlier.

A single hectare of rain forest near Manaus yielded 235 tree species over 5cm in
diameter and 179 species over 15 cm in diameter.
There are 2000 known species of fish in the waters of the Amazon Basin. This is
eight times the number found in the Mississippi River system and 10 times the
number found in all of Europe.

Forest fragmentation by roads in Central Africa. This study shows that 42% of forest area in the six countries is within 10 km
of a road and more than 90% is within 50km of road
(Source: WRI Earthtrends).

Roads usually accompany timber harvest, in order to move logs to sawmill and
markets. Even when tree harvest is highly selective, and much of the forests
become more open through thinning, they become drier, and more susceptible to
fire. In wet areas roads become pathways for surface runoff, and carry sediments
into streams, destroying aquatic life. Culverts installed where roads cross rivers
often roads allow hunters and poachers much greater access, resulting in the large
and very serious bush meat trade that is emptying tropical forests of their wildlife.

Sources:

Forest Patches in Tropical Landscapes, Island Press. John Schelhas and Russell
Greenberg, eds. 1996.
Thomas M. Lillesand and Ralph W. Kiefer, Remote Sensing and Image
Interpretation, Wiley Press, 1994.
Janet N. Abramovitz, Sustaining the World's Forests,in State of the World 1998,
Norton/Worldwatch, 1998.
Gurney, R.J, J.L. Foster, and C. L. Parkinson. 1993. Atlas of Satellite Observations
related to Global Change, Cambridge Press, 1993.

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