According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s report titled “The State of the World’s Forest 2024(SOFO 2024): forest-sector innovations towards a more sustainable future”, India secured 3rd spot among the top 10 countries with most significant forest area gains during 2010 to 2020 period.
- As per the report, India has gained 2.66 lakh hectares (ha) of forest area annually from 2010 to 2020.
- While, China topped among the top 10 countries with the maximum forest area gain of 19.37 lakh ha, followed by Australia with forest area gain of 4.46 lakh ha.
About SOFO 2024:
i.The report was released at the 27th session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO) held at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. It provides a comprehensive analysis of forest conditions and trends.
- The theme of COFO 2024 is “Accelerating forest solutions through innovation.”
- The COFO 2024 meeting is taking place alongside the 9th World Forest Week(July 22- 26, 2024)celebration.
Note: The United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) proclaimed 21 March as the International Day of Forests (IDF) in 2012.
ii.It highlighted decrease in deforestation rates compared to previous decades as many countries showing significant improvements.
iii.As per the report, the global forest covered is about 4.1 billion ha or 31% of the land area in 2020.
iv.The Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States of America (USA) and China accounted for 54% of the global forest area, in decreasing order.
- While, countries like: Australia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Indonesia, Peru and India, accounted for 2/3rd of the global forest area.
Key Findings:
Top 5 countries for annual net gain in Forest Area(2010-2020):
| Ranking | Country | Forest Area Gain(1000 ha/year) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 1937 |
| 2 | Australia | 446 |
| 3 | India | 266 |
| 4 | Chile | 149 |
| 5 | Viet Nam | 126 |
i.Other countries in the top 10 are: Turkey (6th ), the USA (7th ), France (8th ), Italy (9th ) and Romania (10th).
ii.Decrease in Deforestation Rates: The report estimated that nearly 420 million ha of forest were converted to land use between 1990 and 2020. But still, deforestation rates decrease from 15.8 million ha per year (between 1990 and 2002) to 10.2 million ha (between 2015 and 2020).
- Region wise: Deforestation rates in Africa were 4.41 million ha, followed by South America (2.95 million ha) and Asia (2.24 million ha).
iii.Countries which saw decrease in deforestation: The report also used preliminary data from the Global Forest Resource Assessment (2025) which show an decrease of 8.4% in deforestation in Indonesia for 2021-22 compared to 2020-21, the lowest since 1990.
- While, Brazil’s Amazon forest registered a decrease of 50% in deforestation in 2023 compared to 2022.
iv.Status of Mangroves Globally: The report noted that the global mangrove area was recorded to be 14.8 million ha. South and Southeast region accounted for almost 44% of the total global mangrove area.
- The report showed that the rate of gross global mangrove loss decreased by 23% during the periods (2000-2010 and 2010-2020).
- Asia region was the major contributor to mangrove loss and gains due to aquaculture, conversion to oil-palm plantations, rice cultivation, among others.
v.Wildfires: Despite positive outlook of global forest cover area, the report highlighted that climate change is increasing the vulnerability of forests to wildfires and pests.
- As per the report about 340 to 370 million ha of the earth’s land (which is equivalent to less than 50% of the land area of Australia) is impacted by annual fire.
- Boreal forests accounted for approximately one-quarter of carbon dioxide emissions due to wildfires in 2021.
- The report estimated that wildfires emitted an estimated 6,687 megatonnes of Carbon dioxide(CO2) globally in 2023, which was more than double of CO2 emissions from the European Union (EU) due to fossil fuel burning that year.
vi.Pests: According to the report, 25 million hectares of forest lands in the USA, are projected to experience losses exceeding 20% of host tree basal area due to insects and disease by 2027.
- The report noted that forests in China, Japan and the Republic of Korea saw a significant damage to native pine forests due to pests.
vii.Innovative solutions: The report identifies 5 innovation types that enhance forests’ potential to address global challenges such as technological, social, policy, institutional, and financial.
About Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO):
It is of the specialized agencies of United Nations (UN), to make international efforts to combat hunger and to achieve food security for all.
Director-General (DG)- Qu Dongyu
Headquarters- Rome, Italy
Established- 1945
