According to the FAO report, China, Australia and India registered most increased forest areas.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released a report titled “The State of the World’s Forests”.
In 2020, the global forest covered approximately 4.1 billion hectares (ha), or 31 per cent of the land area.
India secured the third position among the top 10 countries with the most forest area gains.
Between 2010 to 2020, India gained 2,66,000 hectares of forest area annually.
As per the FAO report, China secured the first spot with a maximum forest area gain of 19,37,000 hectares, followed by Australia with 4,46,000 hectares.
Chile, Vietnam, Turkey, the United States, France, Italy and Romania are among the top 10 countries with the maximum forest area gain.
Indonesia witnessed an 8.4% decline in deforestation from 2021 to 2022.
In 2023, Brazil’s Amazon registered a 50% reduction in deforestation.
The report highlighted that climate change has increased the vulnerability of forests to various stressors, including wildfires and pests.
The global mangrove area was recorded to be 14.8 million ha.
The rate of gross global mangrove loss decreased by 23 per cent between the two recent decades (2000-2010 and 2010-2020).
