Global area in forest land use
continues to decline...
Source
Year Remote Sensing Global Forest Resource
Assessment
In millions of hectares
1990 3 767 4 168
2000 3 694 4 061

...but not as much as previously
thought
• FAO Forest Resources Assessment estimated a
loss of 107 million ha from 1990 to 2005
• This survey detected a change of 73 million ha
for the same period
• A difference of 32%

Nearly 80% of the world’s forests are
in the tropics and boreal zones

Net change was positive in each climatic
zone except the tropics
Boreal Temperate Subtropical Tropical World
90-00 00-05 90-00 00-05 90-00 00-05 90-00 00-05 90-00 00-05
10 000
thousands hectares (‘000)
Gross gain
Gross loss
Net change
-10 000

Global forest area by region

Area in forest land use by region
Source
Remote Sensing Global Forest Resource
Assessment
Region
In millions of hectares
1990 2005 1990 2005
Africa 518 492 749 691
Asia 497 516 576 584
Europe (including Russia) 1 080 1 071 989 1 001
North and Central America 736 723 708 705
Oceania 117 115 199 197
South America 857 804 946 882

Most forest conversion to other land
uses was in South America and Africa
Africa Asia Europe N. America Oceania S. America
90-00 00-05 90-00 00-05 90-00 00-05 90-00 00-05 90-00 00-05 90-00 00-05
4 000
thousands hectares (‘000)
Gross gain
Gross loss
Net change
-4 000

How did we obtain these
findings?
Landsat imagery was classified from
sample sites – classified, reviewed
and analyzed

A systematic 1 degree grid...
> 13,000 sites worldwide
~10,000 with tree cover

Forest or Non-forest Processing
Land cover changes
1990
Gain in trees (green)
Loss (red stripes)
Shrubs
(young trees?)
2000
Change
=

Review and revision by 200
national experts....

Conclusions
• Net conversion of forest land is substantially
lower than previously estimated
• The conversion of forest land into other land
uses continues most actively in the tropics...
• ... but is also occurring in Europe, North
America/Central America and Africa
• The methods used in this survey can be used a
means of improving estimates of forest land use
change at national, regional and global scales