State of the World’s Forests 2024 Report

About State of the World’s Forests 2024 Report:

• It is published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
• It provides a comprehensive analysis of forest conditions and trends. 
• Highlights of the Report:
  • It highlighted a decline in deforestation rates compared to previous decades, with several countries showing significant improvements. 
  • The data also reveals a disturbing picture of the challenges forests face due to climate change.
  • In 2020, the global forest covered approximately 4.1 billion hectares (ha), or 31 percent of the land area.
  • Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America, and China account for 54 percent of the global forest area, in descending order. 
  • Another 10 countries, including Australia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Peru, and India, contribute about two-thirds of the global forest area. 
  • The report estimated that between 1990 and 2020, approximately 420 million ha of forest were converted to land use.
  • However, deforestation rates fell from 15.8 million ha per year between 1990 and 2002 to 10.2 million ha between 2015 and 2020. 
  • Deforestation rates in Africa were 4.41 million ha, 2.95 million in South America, and 2.24 million in Asia.
  • It also noted 10 countries recording annual gains in forest area in 2020, which include China, Australia, India, Chile, Viet Nam, Turkey, the United States of America, France, Italy, and Romania. 
    • India gained 2,66,000 hectares of forest annually from 2010-2020, ranking third globally in forest area gains.
  • The global mangrove area was recorded to be 14.8 million ha, out of which South and Southeast Asia contributed almost 44 percent of the total global area. 
  • The rate of gross global mangrove loss decreased by 23 percent between the two recent decades (2000-2010 and 2010-2020), and the rate of gain in mangrove areas also decreased slightly.
  • Asia was the major contributor to mangrove loss and gains.
  • It is estimated that about 340-370 million ha (equivalent to less than half the land area of Australia) of the earth’s land area is impacted by annual fire. 
  • Satellite data revealed that total fires in 2023 emitted 6,687 megatons of carbon dioxide globally, more than double the emissions contributed by the European Union by burning fossil fuels.