State of the World’s Forests 2024

Source- This post on the State of the World’s Forests 2024 has been created based on the article “State of the World’s Forests 2024: Global efforts curb deforestation, but threats to forests from wildfires and pests remain” published in “Down to Earth” on 27 July 2024.

The “State of the World’s Forests 2024” report, released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It provides a comprehensive analysis of global forest conditions and trends, revealing both positive developments and ongoing challenges.

 Key Highlights of the report

1.  The report highlights a decline in deforestation rates compared to previous decades. Several countries have shown significant improvements in forest conservation.

2. Forest Coverage: As of 2020, global forest coverage was approximately 4.1 billion hectares (ha), or 31 percent of the land area. Major contributors to global forest area include:

i) Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America, and China are top five countries collectively accounting for 54 percent of the global forest area.

ii) Australia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Peru, and India, among others, contributing to about two-thirds of the global forest area.

3. Deforestation Trends: Between 1990 and 2020, around 420 million hectares of forest were converted to other land uses. Deforestation rates decreased from 15.8 million hectares per year (1990-2002) to 10.2 million hectares per year (2015-2020).

4. Regional Deforestation Rates:

i) Africa: 4.41 million hectares

ii) South America: 2.95 million hectares

iii) Asia: 2.24 million hectares

5. Forest Area Gains: In 2020, ten countries recorded annual gains in forest area, including China, Australia, India, Chile, Viet Nam, Turkey, the United States of America, France, Italy, and Romania.

6. India ranked third globally in forest area gains, with an annual increase of 266,000 hectares from 2010-2020.

7. Mangrove Forests:

i) The global mangrove area was recorded at 14.8 million hectares, with South and Southeast Asia contributing almost 44 percent of the total.

ii) The rate of gross global mangrove loss decreased by 23 percent between 2000-2010 and 2010-2020, though the rate of gain in mangrove area also decreased slightly.

iii) Asia was a major contributor to both mangrove loss and gains.

8. Impact of Fires:

i) An estimated 340-370 million hectares of the earth’s land area are impacted by annual fires.

ii)  Satellite data revealed that total fires in 2023 emitted 6,687 megatons of carbon dioxide globally, more than double the emissions from the European Union’s fossil fuel consumption.

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