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Forest data for 236 countries and territories in the period 1990-2020

mistrial9 5y ago
this is the PDF report page: https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca9825en https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca9825en this document is already in my own research library, along with the similarly solid 2018 version (thx linux and pdf). The interactive graphics in the web-page version make for reader engagement certainly, but I prefer the details and the references. My own take on the topic is that it is both impressive, and problematic, to take on "The World's Forests" in one overview, since the context is so very,very different on each continent and in each biome. If you are reading this far, I encourage any and everyone to get to the science as quickly as possible, because this is large scale change and it is happening now. All hands on Deck!
leipert 5y ago
Mhm… The findings are probably just as good as the data… I got a little suspicious when it claimed that 93% of forests in Europe are natural forests, because as far as I know, e.g. Germany has (almost) no natural forest. See also the history of Forests in Central Europe [0]. In any case, looking at the report [1] they include Russia in Europe. Fair enough, Europe without Russia: Only 70% natural forests. Which still seems high to me, given that Europeans exploited our forests so much. The main report distinguishes between: natural forests (no definition), plantations (think rows and columns) and 'other planted' which can look like a natural forest when matured. I quickly checked the country data for Germany [2]. They report 50% natural forests and 50% other planted. Which is just bollocks. Large parts of forests in Germany are planted and mono culture. Only 6% of forests in Germany are protected (which doesn't mean much, because you can still do forestry!?) and only 0.6% of Forests are off-limits. I might write an enquiry as to why 50/50 was reported. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_forest_in_Central_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_forest_in_Centr... [1]: https://www.fao.org/3/ca9825en/ca9825en.pdf https://www.fao.org/3/ca9825en/ca9825en.pdf [2]: https://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/fra-2020/country-reports/en/ https://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/fra-2020/cou...
- mrjangles 5y ago
  Do you have any evidence to back up this claim? I just quickly checked the Wikipedia links and it says 29% of German forests are government owned. 19% corporate owned and 50% private owned. Assuming nowhere near every single person that owns private property with a forest on it is busy chopping it down, it is safe to assume these figures would be at least close to accurate.
  - piceas 5y ago
    The following document helps a bit. I could believe that 15% of forests in Germany (regardless of ownership and access) are "very semi-natural". I'm not so convinced that the next 21% of "semi-natural" forests just means that they haven't been logged or actively managed for a generation or so. The document has some stats on ownership. The Forests in Germany Selected Results of the Third National Forest Inventory https://www.bmel.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/Publications/ForestsInGermany-BWI.pdf https://www.bmel.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/Publications/For... page 22 "By nature, Germany is beech country and if left to nature, today’s forest area would be made up of 75 % beech forests and 17 % oak forests. Where beech forests would naturally grow, today only 21 % beech forests stand;" "15 % of the forests have a very semi-natural composition and another 21 % a semi-natural composition of tree species"
- therealdrag0 5y ago
  Are you sure you’re not mixing up natural and old growth?
  - lettergram 5y ago
    Was just about to mention that. In Roman times much of Germania was forest. I suspect the wood was utilized in the following centuries, but by the 1850s or so much of the old growth was utilized and the need for large wooden ships was subsiding. I suspect from there onward we saw an increasing utilization of iron, coal and steel. Many woods grew back. Sure not hundred plus year old trees, but 80-100 year old trees can still make a forest
Causality1 5y ago
It's a little silly to make such a big deal out of 54% of global forest area being in five countries when those five countries make up more than 35% of the earth's land area.
- dylan604 5y ago
  It's kind of big deal when one of those countries decides to just tear down the forests. That's 20%. If a second country decides to go the same route, you're now 40%.
frozenlettuce 5y ago
The "farms here, forests there" agenda seems to be coming to the spotlight quite frequently lately https://www.dgardiner.com/farms-here-forests-there-tropical-deforestation-and-u-s-competitiveness-in-agriculture-and-timber/ https://www.dgardiner.com/farms-here-forests-there-tropical-...
mrpopo 5y ago
They're mentioning that deforestation is slowing down, but not mentioning Bolsonaro and the current ramping up of Amazon deforestation in Brazil. Bolsonaro has been quickly destroying decades' worth of efforts in the Amazon. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/20/brazil-amazon-deforestation-report-bolsonaro-climate https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/20/brazil-a... Between August 2020 and July 2021, the rainforest lost 10,476 square kilometers – [...] The figure is 57% higher than in the previous year and is the worst since 2012.
standardUser 5y ago
Deforestation is decreasing in South America, increasing in Africa, and has been roughly flat in most of the rest of the world.
- brabel 5y ago
  That's a really important fact, I think... as everyone is screamaing at South America but to my knowledge, very few people know the problem seems to be getting a lot worse in Africa. Also, surpising that South America has the highest percentage of protected forests in the world at 30%, much higher than North America and Europe.. and that while Russia and Brazil have the biggest forests in the world, Russia actually has more than double the amount forest as Brazil!
gvv 5y ago
22% of WORLD's forests are privately owned. It might non-ironically be a good thing and be less susceptible to deforestation.
sebow 5y ago
Forests have been pleasantly growing in europe in the last 2 decades, even with all the deforestation going on(though to be said it's still way lower compared to the previous industrial periods).Yes part of it is due to climate change, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily a bad thing(mainly because you cannot fit more trees in places already occupied, whereas the more you go to the arctic region, the more free estate there is,assuming the soil is good).We need these forests more than ever to clean our air and provide necessary oxygen for growing populations.

this is the PDF report page: https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca9825en https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca9825en this document is already in my own research library, along with the similarly solid 2018 version (thx linux and pdf). The interactive graphics in the web-page version make for reader engagement certainly, but I prefer the details and the references. My own take on the topic is that it is both impressive, and problematic, to take on "The World's Forests" in one overview, since the context is so very,very different on each continent and in each biome. If you are reading this far, I encourage any and everyone to get to the science as quickly as possible, because this is large scale change and it is happening now. All hands on Deck!

leipert 5y ago

Mhm… The findings are probably just as good as the data… I got a little suspicious when it claimed that 93% of forests in Europe are natural forests, because as far as I know, e.g. Germany has (almost) no natural forest. See also the history of Forests in Central Europe [0]. In any case, looking at the report [1] they include Russia in Europe. Fair enough, Europe without Russia: Only 70% natural forests. Which still seems high to me, given that Europeans exploited our forests so much. The main report distinguishes between: natural forests (no definition), plantations (think rows and columns) and 'other planted' which can look like a natural forest when matured. I quickly checked the country data for Germany [2]. They report 50% natural forests and 50% other planted. Which is just bollocks. Large parts of forests in Germany are planted and mono culture. Only 6% of forests in Germany are protected (which doesn't mean much, because you can still do forestry!?) and only 0.6% of Forests are off-limits. I might write an enquiry as to why 50/50 was reported. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_forest_in_Central_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_forest_in_Centr... [1]: https://www.fao.org/3/ca9825en/ca9825en.pdf https://www.fao.org/3/ca9825en/ca9825en.pdf [2]: https://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/fra-2020/country-reports/en/ https://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/fra-2020/cou...

mrjangles 5y ago
Do you have any evidence to back up this claim? I just quickly checked the Wikipedia links and it says 29% of German forests are government owned. 19% corporate owned and 50% private owned. Assuming nowhere near every single person that owns private property with a forest on it is busy chopping it down, it is safe to assume these figures would be at least close to accurate.
- piceas 5y ago
  The following document helps a bit. I could believe that 15% of forests in Germany (regardless of ownership and access) are "very semi-natural". I'm not so convinced that the next 21% of "semi-natural" forests just means that they haven't been logged or actively managed for a generation or so. The document has some stats on ownership. The Forests in Germany Selected Results of the Third National Forest Inventory https://www.bmel.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/Publications/ForestsInGermany-BWI.pdf https://www.bmel.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/Publications/For... page 22 "By nature, Germany is beech country and if left to nature, today’s forest area would be made up of 75 % beech forests and 17 % oak forests. Where beech forests would naturally grow, today only 21 % beech forests stand;" "15 % of the forests have a very semi-natural composition and another 21 % a semi-natural composition of tree species"
therealdrag0 5y ago
Are you sure you’re not mixing up natural and old growth?
- lettergram 5y ago
  Was just about to mention that. In Roman times much of Germania was forest. I suspect the wood was utilized in the following centuries, but by the 1850s or so much of the old growth was utilized and the need for large wooden ships was subsiding. I suspect from there onward we saw an increasing utilization of iron, coal and steel. Many woods grew back. Sure not hundred plus year old trees, but 80-100 year old trees can still make a forest

Causality1 5y ago

It's a little silly to make such a big deal out of 54% of global forest area being in five countries when those five countries make up more than 35% of the earth's land area.

dylan604 5y ago
It's kind of big deal when one of those countries decides to just tear down the forests. That's 20%. If a second country decides to go the same route, you're now 40%.

frozenlettuce 5y ago

The "farms here, forests there" agenda seems to be coming to the spotlight quite frequently lately https://www.dgardiner.com/farms-here-forests-there-tropical-deforestation-and-u-s-competitiveness-in-agriculture-and-timber/ https://www.dgardiner.com/farms-here-forests-there-tropical-...

mrpopo 5y ago

They're mentioning that deforestation is slowing down, but not mentioning Bolsonaro and the current ramping up of Amazon deforestation in Brazil. Bolsonaro has been quickly destroying decades' worth of efforts in the Amazon. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/20/brazil-amazon-deforestation-report-bolsonaro-climate https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/20/brazil-a... Between August 2020 and July 2021, the rainforest lost 10,476 square kilometers – [...] The figure is 57% higher than in the previous year and is the worst since 2012.

standardUser 5y ago

Deforestation is decreasing in South America, increasing in Africa, and has been roughly flat in most of the rest of the world.

brabel 5y ago
That's a really important fact, I think... as everyone is screamaing at South America but to my knowledge, very few people know the problem seems to be getting a lot worse in Africa. Also, surpising that South America has the highest percentage of protected forests in the world at 30%, much higher than North America and Europe.. and that while Russia and Brazil have the biggest forests in the world, Russia actually has more than double the amount forest as Brazil!

gvv 5y ago

22% of WORLD's forests are privately owned. It might non-ironically be a good thing and be less susceptible to deforestation.

sebow 5y ago

Forests have been pleasantly growing in europe in the last 2 decades, even with all the deforestation going on(though to be said it's still way lower compared to the previous industrial periods).Yes part of it is due to climate change, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily a bad thing(mainly because you cannot fit more trees in places already occupied, whereas the more you go to the arctic region, the more free estate there is,assuming the soil is good).We need these forests more than ever to clean our air and provide necessary oxygen for growing populations.