Global forest resource

Cover photographs: Six thematic elements of sustainable forest management: extent of forest resources (R Davis); biological diversity (FAO/FO-0964/S Braatz); forest health and vitality (The Nature Conservancy/R.L Myers); productive functions of forest resources (StoraEnso/9809-17); protective functions of forest resources (FAO/FO-5278/J Carle); socio-economic functions (FAO/FO-1051/S Braatz) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 Progress towards sustainable forest management FAO FORESTRY PAPER 147 FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2006 Front-Discl.indd 15/02/2007 11:03:13 The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries ISBN 92-5-105481-9 All rights reserved Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product for educational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders Applications for such permission should be addressed to: Chief Publishing Management Service Information Division FAO Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy or by e-mail to: copyright@fao.org © FAO 2006 Front-Discl.indd 15/02/2007 11:03:13 iii Contents Acknowledgements Foreword Acronyms and abbreviations Executive summary Chapter Introduction ix x xi xii The reporting framework The process Chapter Extent of forest resources 11 Overview 11 Key findings 12 Forest area and forest area change 14 Forest characteristics 23 Growing stock 30 Biomass and carbon 31 Chapter Biological diversity 37 Overview 37 Key findings 38 Primary forests 40 Forest area designated for conservation of biodiversity 43 Composition of forests 47 Number of native tree species 51 Threatened forest tree species 53 Chapter Forest health and vitality 57 Overview 57 Key findings 59 Forest fires 60 Insects and diseases 65 Other disturbances 68 Chapter Productive functions of forest resources Overview 75 75 Key findings 76 Forest area designated for productive purposes 77 Productive forest plantations 80 Growing stock and commercial growing stock 83 Removals of wood products 88 Removals of non-wood forest products 91 Chapter Protective functions of forest resources 95 Overview 95 Key findings 98 iv Forest area designated for protective purposes Protective forest plantations Chapter Socio-economic functions 99 103 107 Overview 107 Key findings 108 Value of wood removals 109 Value of NWFP removals 113 Employment 116 Ownership of forests and other wooded lands 119 Forest area designated for social services 124 Chapter Progress towards sustainable forest management 129 Methodology 129 Results 132 Discussion 143 Chapter Conclusions Progress towards sustainable forest management 149 149 Scope and coverage of FRA 2005 150 FRA 2005 process 153 Concluding remarks 153 Next steps 154 Bibliography 155 Annexes Annex Contributors 161 Annex Terms and definitions for national reporting tables for FRA 2005 169 Annex Global tables 177 Annex FRA 2005 working papers 311 Annex FRA 2005 meetings and workshops 313 Annex Earlier global assessments 315 v Tables 1.1 FRA 2005 reporting tables 1.2 Indicative linkages between reporting tables and thematic elements of sustainable forest management 1.3 Key statistics for regions and subregions used in FRA 2005 2.1 Distribution of forests by subregion 2005 16 2.2 High forest cover countries 2005 17 2.3 Forest cover by subregion 2005 18 2.4 Annual changes in forest area by subregion 1990–2005 20 2.5 Ten countries with largest annual net loss in forest area 2000–2005 21 2.6 Ten countries with largest annual net gain in forest area 2000–2005 21 2.7 Comparison of forest area estimates in FRA 2005 and FRA 2000 23 2.8 Carbon stock per hectare 2005 34 2.9 Average factors for estimating biomass and carbon from growing stock 34 2.10 Trends in carbon stocks in forest biomass 1990–2005 36 3.1 Area of primary forest 2005 41 3.2 Ten countries with highest percentage of primary forest 2005 42 3.3 Area of forest designated primarily for conservation of biodiversity 2005 45 3.4 Total area of forest designated for conservation of biodiversity 2005 46 3.5 Trends in area of forest designated primarily for conservation of biodiversity 1990–2005 46 3.6 Trends in total area of forest designated for conservation of biodiversity 1990–2005 47 3.7 Percentage of growing stock occupied by the most common tree species 2000 48 3.8 Native forest tree species 52 3.9 Threatened tree species 54 3.10 Threatened tree species as percentage of number of native tree species in individual countries 55 4.1 Average area of forest annually affected by fire 1998–2002 64 4.2 Trends in area of forest annually affected by fire 1988–1992 and 1998–2002 64 4.3 Average area of forest annually affected by insects 1998–2002 69 4.4 Average area of forest annually affected by diseases 1998–2002 69 4.5 Trends in area of forest annually affected by diseases 1988–1992 and 1998–2002 70 4.6 Trends in area of forest annually affected by insects 1988–1992 and 1998–2002 70 4.7 Average area of forest annually affected by other disturbances 1998–2002 72 4.8 Trends in area of forest annually affected by other disturbances 1988–1992 and 1998–2002 73 5.1 Area of forest designated primarily for production 2005 79 5.2 Trends in area of forest designated primarily for production 1990–2005 79 vi 5.3 Area of productive forest plantations 2005 81 5.4 Trends in area of productive forest plantations 1990–2005 82 5.5 Ten countries with largest area of productive forest plantations 1990–2005 83 5.6 Ten countries with greatest annual increase in productive forest plantation area 1990–2005 83 5.7 Forest area and growing stock 2005 85 5.8 Commercial growing stock 2005 86 5.9 Trends in growing stock and growing stock per hectare 1990–2005 87 5.10 Trends in commercial growing stock 1990–2005 88 5.11 Wood removals 2005 90 5.12 Trends in wood removals 1990–2005 91 5.13 Removals of four categories of NWFPs (plant products) 2005 93 5.14 Annual changes for four categories of NWFPs (plant products) per region 1990–2005 94 6.1 Protected area categories and management objectives 98 6.2 Area of forest designated primarily for protection 2005 101 6.3 Total area of forest designated for protection 2005 102 6.4 Trends in area of forest designated primarily for protection 1990–2005 102 6.5 Area of protective forest plantations 2005 104 6.6 Trends in area of protective forest plantations 1990–2005 105 6.7 Ten countries with largest area of protective forest plantations 1990–2005 106 7.1 Proportion of roundwood production in value of wood removals 2005 110 7.2 Value of wood removals 2005 112 7.3 Trends in value of wood removals 1990–2005 112 7.4 Value of NWFP removals 2005 115 7.5 Reported values of total NWFP removals 1990–2005 116 7.6 Number of people employed in forestry in 2000 118 7.7 Trends in number of people employed in forestry 1990–2000 119 7.8 Ownership of forest area 2000 122 7.9 Trends in ownership of forest area 1990–2000 124 7.10 Area of forest designated primarily for social services 2005 126 7.11 Total area of forest designated for social services 2005 127 7.12 Trends in area of forest designated primarily for social services 1990–2005 127 8.1 List of variables selected for synthesis assessment by thematic area 130 8.2 Trends towards sustainable forest management at the global level 132 8.3 Trends towards sustainable forest management in Africa 134 8.4 Trends towards sustainable forest management in Asia 136 8.5 Trends towards sustainable forest management in Europe 137 8.6 Trends towards sustainable forest management in North and Central America 139 8.7 Trends towards sustainable forest management in Oceania 141 8.8 Trends towards sustainable forest management in South America 142 8.9 Trends towards sustainable forest management by subregion 144 vii Figures 1.1 Regional and subregional breakdown used in FRA 2005 1.2 FRA 2005 Timeline 2.1 Information availability – extent of forest resources 12 2.2 The world’s forests 15 2.3 Ten countries with largest forest area 2005 16 2.4 Forest area in percent of land area by country 2005 17 2.5 Forest change dynamics 18 2.6 Annual net change in forest area by region 1990–2005 20 2.7 Countries with large net changes in forest area 2000–2005 21 2.8 Information availability – forest characteristics 25 2.9 Forest characteristics 2005 27 2.10 Global trends in forest characteristics 1990–2005 27 2.11 Information availability – carbon stock in forest biomass 33 2.12 Total carbon stock in forests by region 2005 35 3.1 Information availability – biological diversity 38 3.2 Information availability – area of primary forest 41 3.3 Ten countries with largest area of primary forest 2005 42 3.4 Information availability – area of forest designated primarily for conservation of biodiversity 44 3.5 Information availability – total area of forest designated for conservation of biodiversity 44 3.6 Information availability – composition of growing stock 48 3.7 Average growing stock of the ten most common forest tree species as function of growing stock occupied by the three most common species 49 3.8 Percentage of growing stock represented by the three most common forest tree species as function of number of native species 50 3.9 Twenty-five most common tree genera reported 50 3.10 Information availability – number of native forest tree species 51 3.11 Number of native forest tree species 52 3.12 Information availability – threatened forest tree species 54 3.13 Average number of threatened forest tree species by region 55 4.1 Information availability – forest health and vitality 59 4.2 Information availability – forest fires 63 4.3 Information availability – forest insect pests 67 4.4 Information availability – diseases 67 4.5 Information availability – other disturbances 71 5.1 Information availability – productive functions of forest resources 75 5.2 Information availability – area of forest designated primarily for production 78 5.3 Information availability – total area of forest designated for production 78 5.4 Information availability – area of productive forest plantations 80 viii 5.5 Ten countries with largest area of productive forest plantations 2005 82 5.6 Information availability – growing stock 84 5.7 Information availability – commercial growing stock 84 5.8 Five countries with greatest total growing stock 2005 86 5.9 Information availability – wood removals 89 5.10 Five countries with largest volume of wood removals 2005 90 5.11 Information availability – NWFP removals 92 5.12 Information availability – NWFP removals by product category 93 6.1 Information availability – protective functions of forest resources 98 6.2 Information availability – area of forest designated primarily for protection 100 6.3 Information availability – total area of forest designated for protection 101 6.4 Area of forest designated primarily for protection 1990–2005 103 6.5 Information availability – area of protective forest plantations 104 6.6 Ten countries with largest area of protective forest plantations 2005 105 7.1 Information availability – socio-economic functions 108 7.2 Information availability – value of wood removals 110 7.3 Information availability – value of NWFP removals 114 7.4 Information availability – value of NWFP removals by product category 114 7.5 Information availability – employment 117 7.6 Information availability – ownership 122 7.7 Ownership of forests by subregion 2000 123 7.8 Information availability – area of forest designated primarily for social services 126 8.1 Designated functions of forests globally 2005 129 8.2 Distribution of subregional trends 146 9.1 Information availability – reporting tables in relation to global forest area 151 Boxes 1.1 Thematic elements of sustainable forest management 2.1 FRA 2005 thematic study on planted forests 24 2.2 FRA 2005 thematic study on mangroves 28 2.3 FRA 2005 thematic study on bamboo 29 4.1 FRA 2005 thematic study on forest fires 61 4.2 FRA 2005 thematic study on forest pests 68 6.1 FRA 2005 thematic study on forests and water 96 7.1 FRA 2005 thematic study on forest ownership and resource tenure 120 Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 306 TABLE 20 Employment in forestrya 1990 and 2000 (1 000 person-years) Country/area 1990 2000 Total Total Production Provision of services Unspecified Bahrain - - - - - Cyprus 1 n.s Georgia 12 - - Iran (Islamic Republic of) 84 107 86 12 Iraq - - - - - Israel - Jordan - - Kazakhstan - - - - - Kuwait - - - - - Kyrgyzstan - - Lebanon - n.s - n.s - Occupied Palestinian Territory - - - - - Oman - - - - - Qatar - - - - - Saudi Arabia Syrian Arab Republic Tajikistan 1 12 16 13 5 367 343 - - 343 Turkmenistan - 2 0 United Arab Emirates - - - - - Uzbekistan 7 0 Yemen - - - - - n.s n.s Turkey Total Western and Central Asia Total Asia Albania Andorra - - - - - 10 - Belarus - 44 44 0 Belgium 4 - Austria Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Channel Islands 22 12 10 - 69 33 34 - - - - - Croatia 14 10 10 - - Czech Republic 52 31 19 12 4 11 - - - - - - - Finland 39 24 - - 24 France 33 35 - - 35 Germany - 70 - - 70 Gibraltar - - - - - Greece - - - - - Holy See - - - - - Hungary 46 12 - - 12 Iceland n.s n.s - - n.s Ireland 4 - - Isle of Man - - - - - Denmark Estonia Faeroe Islands Annex 3: Global tables 307 TABLE 20 Employment in forestrya 1990 and 2000 (1 000 person-years) Country/area 1990 2000 Total Total Production Provision of services Unspecified Italy 56 36 36 - - Latvia 15 19 - - 19 - - - - - Liechtenstein Lithuania 15 14 - - 14 Luxembourg - - - - - Malta - - - - - Monaco - - - - - Netherlands 2 - Norway - - 134 60 - - 60 16 11 11 - - Poland Portugal Republic of Moldova Romania Russian Federation San Marino 3 - - 89 47 - - 47 187 196 155 42 - - - - - - Serbia and Montenegro 15 10 - Slovakia 36 27 24 Slovenia - - Spain 36 29 29 - - Sweden 34 17 - - 17 Switzerland 7 - - The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - - Ukraine 62 105 - - 105 United Kingdom 19 12 Anguilla - - - - - Antigua and Barbuda - - - - - Aruba - - - - - Bahamas - - - - - Barbados - n.s n.s - - Bermuda - - - - - British Virgin Islands - - - - - - - - - - 29 37 - - 37 Total Europe Cayman Islands Cuba Dominica - - - - - Dominican Republic n.s n.s n.s - - Grenada n.s n.s - - n.s Guadeloupe - - - - - Haiti - - - - - Jamaica n.s 1 n.s - Martinique n.s n.s - - n.s Montserrat - - - - - Netherlands Antilles - - - - - Puerto Rico - - - - - Saint Kitts and Nevis - - - - - Saint Lucia - - - - - Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 308 TABLE 20 Employment in forestrya 1990 and 2000 (1 000 person-years) Country/area 1990 2000 Total Total Production Provision of services Unspecified Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - - - - Trinidad and Tobago 1 - - Turks and Caicos Islands - - - - - United States Virgin Islands - - - - - Belize n.s - n.s - Costa Rica - 7 - n.s El Salvador - - - - - Guatemala - 82 - - 82 Honduras 32 63 57 - Nicaragua 17 35 30 - 8 - - Total Caribbean Panama Total Central America Canada 74 89 89 - - Greenland - - - - - Mexico - - - - - Saint Pierre and Miquelon United States of America 0 0 311 281 221 50 10 Total North America Total North and Central America American Samoa Australia Cook Islands Fiji - - - - - 15 17 13 - - - - - - n.s n.s n.s - - French Polynesia - - - - - Guam - - - - - Kiribati - - - - - Marshall Islands - - - - - Micronesia (Federated States of) - - - - - Nauru - - - - - n.s n.s n.s - n.s New Zealand - Niue - - - - - Northern Mariana Islands - - - - - Palau - - - - - New Caledonia Papua New Guinea 13 11 Pitcairn - - - - - Samoa n.s n.s n.s - Solomon Islands - - - - - Tokelau - - - - - Tonga - - - - - Tuvalu - - - - - Vanuatu - - - - - Wallis and Futuna Islands - - - - - Total Oceania Annex 3: Global tables 309 TABLE 20 Employment in forestrya 1990 and 2000 (1 000 person-years) Country/area 1990 2000 Total Total Production Provision of services Unspecified Argentina 33 32 - Bolivia - 23 14 - Brazil - - - - - Chile - 52 54 40 13 Colombia - - - - - Ecuador - n.s n.s - n.s Falkland Islands - - - - - n.s n.s n.s n.s n.s - - - - - 11 - Peru - 120 117 - South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands - - - - - Suriname n.s n.s n.s - Uruguay 6 - - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) - 2 - - French Guiana Guyana Paraguay Total South America WORLD a Refers to employment related to the primary production of goods, provision of services and unspecified forestry activities (excluding the wood processing industry) Employment is defined as “any type of work performed or services rendered under a contract of hire, written or oral, in exchange for wage or salary, in cash or in kind”, and thus excludes informal employment 310 Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 311 Annex FRA 2005 working papers The key findings of FRA 2005, the country reports and all relevant background documents are available on the FAO Web site at www.fao.org/forestry/fra2005 A complete list of all working papers prepared by the FRA programme can be found at www fao.org/forestry/site/2560/en This annex lists those FRA working papers directly related to FRA 2005 excluding the list of country reports Paper copies can be requested by e-mail to fra@fao.org, or by ordinary mail to FAO, Forestry Department, FRA Programme, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy E, F, S, A and R refer to the languages English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian Number Title 80 Proc training of national correspondents on assessing and monitoring of forest land use and changes, 17–21 November 2003, Rome, Italy (E, F, S) 81 Specification of national reporting tables for FRA 2005 (E, F, S, A, R) 82 Guidelines for country reporting to FRA 2005 (E, F, S, A, R) 83 Terms and definitions (final version) (E, F, S, A, R) 84 Proc regional training of national correspondents on country reporting to FRA 2005, 26–28 May 2004, Yokohama, Japan (E) 85 Compte-rendu atelier révision au niveau régional des rapports nationaux des pays d’Afrique francophone, 20–23 juillet 2004, Dakar, Sénégal (F) 86 Proc subregional workshop for national correspondents from anglophone African countries, 27–30 July 2004, Accra, Ghana (E) 87 Acta reunión regional de corresponsales nacionales de habla hispana de América Latina y el Caribe, 2–11 de septiembre 2004, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala (S) 88 Proc subregional workshop for national correspondents from south and southeastern Europe, 27–29 October 2004, Budapest, Hungary (E) 89 Proc regional review of national reports for Asian and Pacific countries, 23–26 November 2004, Bangkok, Thailand (E) 90 Proc subregional workshop for Russian-speaking national correspondents to FRA, 7–11 December 2004, Wyszków, Poland (E) 91 Proc regional review of national reports for English-speaking Caribbean countries, 24–28 February 2005, Kingston, Jamaica (E) 102 FRA 2000 and FRA 2005: comparing estimates of forest area and forest area change (E) 103 Methodology of information generation and management for FRA 2005 (E) 104 Documentation of calculations to determine progress towards sustainable forest management in the FRA 2005 main report (E) 105 FRA 2005: lessons learned and suggestions for future assessments (E) 106 FRA 2005: global assessments of growing stock, biomass and carbon stock (E) 312 Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 313 ANNEX FRA 2005 meetings and workshops Venue and date Name of meeting Kotka, Finland 1–5 July 2002 Kotka IV: expert consultation on global forest resources assessment – linking national and international efforts Organized by FAO, UNEP and UNECE www.fao.org/forestry/site/2421/en Nairobi, Kenya 16–18 October 2002 First meeting of the advisory group on global forest resources assessment www.fao.org/forestry/site/5768/en Rome, Italy 13–15 March 2003 Second meeting of the advisory group on global forest resources assessment www.fao.org/forestry/site/11827/en Rome, Italy 17–21 November 2003 Global training of national correspondents on assessing and monitoring of forest land use and changes www.fao.org/forestry/site/12708/en Rome, Italy 22 November 2003 Third meeting of the advisory group on global forest resources assessment www.fao.org/forestry/site/21310/en Beirut, Lebanon 21–22 May 2004 Near East regional workshop on global forest resources assessment – FRA 2005 www.fao.org/forestry/site/19480/en Yokohama, Japan 26–28 May 2004 Regional training of national correspondents in East Asia on country reporting to FRA 2005 ww.fao.org/forestry/site/19476/en Dakar, Senegal 20–23 July 2004 Révision au niveau régional des rapports nationaux des pays d’Afrique francophone www.fao.org/forestry/site/19475/fr (French only) Accra, Ghana 27–30 July 2004 Subregional workshop for national correspondents from anglophone African countries www.fao.org/forestry/site/24408/en Ciudad de Guatemala, Reunión regional de corresponsales nacionales de habla hispana de Guatemala América Latina y el Caribe 2–11 September 2004 www.fao.org/forestry/site/19479/sp (Spanish only) Washington, DC, Tenth meeting of the UNECE team of specialists on forest resources USA assessment 15–17 September 2004 www.unece.org/trade/timber/docs/fra-tos/2004/tos-fra-04.htm Budapest, Hungary 27–29 October 2004 Subregional workshop for national correspondents from south and southeastern Europe www.fao.org/forestry/site/33107/en 314 Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 Bangkok, Thailand 23–26 November 2004 Regional workshop for national correspondents from Asia and the Pacific www.fao.org/forestry/site/33207/en Wyszków, Poland 7–11 December 2004 Subregional workshop for Russian-speaking correspondents www.fao.org/forestry/site/33108/en Rome, Italy 14–15 January 2005 Fourth meeting of the advisory group on global forest resources assessment ww.fao.org/forestry/site/33048/en Kingston, Jamaica 24–28 January 2005 Regional review of national reports for English-speaking Caribbean countries www.fao.org/forestry/site/19477/en Rome, Italy 17–18 January 2006 Fifth meeting of the advisory group on global forest resources assessment www.fao.org/forestry/site/33148/en FRA national 315 Annex Earlier global assessments FAO was founded on 16 October 1945 At the first session of the Conference of FAO, the need for up-to-date information on the forest resources of the world was highlighted This reflected concern for a possible future lack of timber, not least due to the needs for reconstruction after the Second World War and for support to development in tropical countries It was recommended, therefore, that a global forest resources inventory should be undertaken as soon as possible In May 1946, the Forestry and Forest Products Division was founded and work initiated on FAO’s first worldwide assessment of forests, published two years later (FAO, 1948) After reviewing the results of this assessment, the sixth session of the FAO Conference recommended that the Organization “maintain a permanent capability to provide information on the state of forest resources worldwide on a continuing basis” (FAO, 1951) Since that time, regional and global surveys have been conducted every five to ten years Each has taken a somewhat different form Statistics released by FAO on world forest area from 1948 through 1963 were largely collected through questionnaires sent to the countries The assessments since 1980 have taken a more solid technical form, being based on analysis of country references supported by expert judgements, remote sensing and statistical modelling FRA 2000 was the most comprehensive past assessment in terms of the number of references used and information analysed on forest area, the condition of forests and their management, forest services and NWFPs FRA 2000 was also notable for applying, for the first time, a single definition of forest at the global level with common minimum thresholds, including a 10 percent crown cover density Statistics from the different assessments not lend themselves to comparative analysis, owing to changes in baseline information, methods and definitions However, better correlations can be achieved for time series in many countries for certain assessments, especially with information generated since 1980 Consistent definitions of forests were applied for developing countries for subsequent assessments – and for all countries as of FRA 2000 FAO’S GLOBAL AND REGIONAL ASSESSMENTS 1946–2001 Forest resources of the world (1948) For the first global survey, Forest resources of the world (FAO, 1948), a questionnaire was sent to all countries, with 101 responding, which represented about 66 percent of the world’s forests Parameters included were forest area (total and productive), types of forest by accessibility of wood resources, growth and fellings One of the noteworthy conclusions of the first report was that: “All these investigations made valuable additions to our knowledge, but all suffered from certain fundamental difficulties Most important of these were the lack of reliable forest inventory information … and the lack of commonly accepted definitions of some of the more important forestry terms Hence, to the weakness of some of the quantitative estimates, there was added doubt as to the real meanings of some of the qualitative descriptions” This statement remains largely true today, almost 60 years later While technical and scientific advances have greatly increased the potential to improve the information base in countries, many still lack the training, institutional and financial resources to conduct periodic assessments 316 Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 Major findings on forest area and forest area change • Total forest area (global): 4.0 billion hectares • Net forest change (global): not reported World forest inventories (1953, 1958 and 1963) World forest inventories were carried out on three occasions during the 1950s and 1960s Lanly (1983) describes these various inventories: 126 countries and territories replied to the 1953 questionnaire representing about 73 percent of the world forest area The picture was completed by information from the replies to the 1947 questionnaire for 10 other countries (representing percent of the total world forested area) and official statistics for the remaining 57 countries, representing 24 percent of the world forest area The results were published by FAO in 1955 under the title World forest resources – results of the inventory undertaken in 1953 by the Forestry Division of FAO The 1958 inventory … (World Forest Inventory 1958 – the third in the quinquennial series compiled by the Forestry and Forest Products Division of FAO) [FAO, 1960] utilized the replies of the 143 countries or territories, representing 88 percent of the world forest area, complemented by the replies to the 1953 questionnaire for 13 countries (2 percent) and to the 1947 questionnaire for countries (3 percent) Necessary changes and precisions introduced in the definition of some concepts, more precise definitions of forests and changes in such concepts as forest-in-use and accessible forests affected comparability with the previous inventories However, changes in area and other forest characteristics during the 1953-58 period were, for several countries, either reported directly from them or could be derived by comparison of the replies to both questionnaires (changes in area of permanent forests, in management status increase in accessible areas and in forest-in-use, afforested area between 1953 and 1957, etc.) The World Forest Inventory 1963 published by FAO in 1965 witnessed a slightly lower rate of response (105 compared to 130), “at least partly accounted for by temporary strains on administration in countries gaining their independence” as was reported in the document Again comparability with the former enquiries was limited, and, as pointed out by the authors of the report, “large differences for some countries (between the results of the 1958 and 1963 enquiries) resulted more from better knowledge about the forests, or stricter application of definitions, than from effective changes in the forest resources” The main parameters assessed during the World forest inventory 1963 were forest area (total, productive and protected), ownership, management status, composition (softwoods and hardwoods), growing stock and removals (FAO, 1966) Major findings on forest area and forest area change (1963) • Total forest area (global): 3.8 billion hectares • Net forest change: not reported Regional forest resources assessments (1970s) During the 1970s, FAO did not carry out global surveys Instead, a series of regional assessments were conducted, with the intention that each would be more appropriate and specific to the regions Beginning in the late 1960s, FAO sent out questionnaires to all industrialized countries The results were published in 1976 as Forest resources in the European Region (FAO, 1976b) Questionnaires were also sent to Asia and Latin America, and the results were published in Forest resources in the Asia and Far East Region (FAO, 1976c) and Appraisal of forest resources of the Latin American Region (FAO, 1976a) A similar questionnaire was sent to African countries by the Department of Forest Survey of the Swedish Royal College of Forestry and the results published in Annex 6: Earlier global assessments Forest resources of Africa – an approach to international forest resources appraisal, Part I: country descriptions (Persson, 1975) and Part II: Regional analyses (Persson, 1977) According to Lanly (1983), the regional assessments of the developing countries had the following main features in common: • they were based only in part upon questionnaires, the rest of the information having been collected in another form, in particular through travel to countries of the region concerned; • they included more qualitative information (description of forest types, indication of species planted, quotation of figures on volumes and other stand characteristics extracted from inventory reports, etc.), while the World Forest Inventory assessments were essentially statistical; • in addition to regional statistical tables, country notes were prepared regrouping the quantitative information selected for each country; • since the information provided was not limited to the replies to the questionnaires, the draft country notes were sent back to the national forest institutions for their comments and suggested amendments Although FAO did not compile the regional findings into a global synthesis, a global survey was done outside FAO and published in World forest resources – review of the world’s forest resources in the early 1970s (Persson, 1974) Another FAO study, Attempt at an assessment of the world’s tropical moist forests (Sommer, 1976), provided a summary of findings on the forest situation in all tropical moist forests FRA 1980 FRA 1980 covered 97 percent of the land area of developing countries or 76 tropical countries: 37 in Africa, 16 in Asia and 23 in Latin America and the Caribbean FRA 1980 was distinguished by many features Its breadth was the greatest up to that time, and in many cases remains unmatched by more recent assessments It is also notable as the first assessment to use a definition of forests in which measurable parameters were indicated – 10 percent canopy cover density, minimum tree height of m and 10 as the minimum area Previous assessments had relatively broad definitions, which could be interpreted quite differently by different countries This consistent definition provided parameters useful in adjusting country information to a common standard An adjustment in time was also made, using expert opinion to project the information to common reference years of 1976, 1980, 1981 and 1985 FRA 1980 relied extensively on existing documentation from countries to formulate its estimates of forest area (status and change), plantation resources and wood volume Existing information from multiple sources in the countries was gathered and analysed Dialogues with national and international experts on information utility and reliability helped to firm up country estimates The assessment noted that information was abundant, but that it was hard to locate and synthesize in the coherent manner needed for a consistent global survey Extended narratives, explanatory text and qualitative information complemented the statistical data set During the tenure of FRA 1980, FAO was conducting extensive work on forest inventories in tropical countries Roughly one project existed for every two to three countries, and FAO experts in the projects provided valuable input to the 1980 assessment results In major forested areas for which existing information was lacking, the assessment conducted manual interpretations of satellite imagery (1:1 000 000 scale) This was done for six Latin American countries, two African countries, two Asian countries and portions of two other Asian countries The interpretations covered about 70–99 percent of these countries, using 55 satellite images The final documentation for FRA 1980 included three volumes of country briefs (one for each developing country region) (FAO, 1981a, b and c), three regional 317 318 Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 summaries and a condensed main report, published as an FAO Forestry Paper (FAO, 1982) While the findings were not global, FRA 1980 was used again in 1988 to make an interim global assessment Major findings on forest area and forest area change • Total forest area (tropical developing countries only) 1980: 2.1 billion hectares (natural forests and plantations) • Net forest change (tropical developing countries only) 1981–1985: -10.2 million hectares per year • Net forest change (global): not reported Interim assessment 1988 The Interim report on the state of forest resources in the developing countries (FAO, 1988) provided information on 129 developing countries (53 more than FRA 1980) as well as on industrialized countries The report provided information on the state of forests in the year 1980 and changes over the period 1981–1985 Definitions varied between the industrialized and developing countries specifically for crown cover thresholds for forests, which were set at 20 percent for industrialized countries and 10 percent for developing ones Information on the industrialized countries was collected by UNECE in Geneva, which drew on the report Forest resources of the ECE region (Europe, the USSR, North America) (UNECE and FAO, 1985) Parameters varied as well for the two groups of countries Thus a global synthesis of core elements was needed in order to achieve a uniform global data set Elements of the global synthesis included forest, operable forest, inoperable forest, other wooded land, broad-leaved forest and coniferous forest Major findings on forest area and forest area change • Total forest area (global) 1980: 3.6 billion hectares • Net forest change (tropical developing countries) 1981–1985: -11.4 million hectares per year • Net forest change (global): not reported FRA 1990 FRA 1990 (FAO, 1993) covered all developing and industrialized countries and was distinguished by two innovations: the development and use of a computerized ‘deforestation model’, which was applied to the developing country data in order to project forest area statistics to a common reference year; and an independent, pan-tropical remote sensing survey of forest change based on high-resolution remote sensing data FRA 1990 sought to improve estimates by eliminating the bias in expert opinions through a statistical model for predicting forest area loss (and thus deforestation rates) The model was based on forest area change derived from the few comparable multidate assessments available Deforestation rates were then regressed against independent variables to determine the rate of forest loss relative to changes in population densities within specific ecological zones Forest area change rates were obtained by applying the model to available baseline statistics for the countries The advantages of the 1990 method were the near-uniformity achieved by applying the model equally to almost all developing countries and the ability to streamline the production of statistics using computer routines.1 The disadvantages of the 1990 method were the low number of variables used in the deforestation algorithm and the ¹ Two different models were used – one for the tropics and one for subtropical areas Other differences among countries consisted in the lack of: baseline data in some countries, a uniform ecological map and comparable multi-date observations Annex 6: Earlier global assessments low number of observations used to construct the model, introducing a relatively high random error (i.e low precision) in country estimates Because of the many uncertainties involved in working with existing national data, FRA 1990 implemented a remote sensing survey to provide a quality-controlled set of statistics on forest resources The use of statistical sampling combined with a uniform data source (satellite imagery) and standard data-collection methods were important tools in providing a set of statistics to compare with the country data The survey relied on statistical sampling (10 percent) of the world’s tropical forests through 117 sample units distributed throughout the tropics Based on the sampling, estimates were produced of the status of and changes in tropical forests at regional, ecological and pan-tropical levels (but not at the national level) Each of the sample units consisted of multi-date, Landsat satellite images, which provided the raw material for producing statistics on forest and other land cover changes from 1980 to 1990 FAO used an interdependent, manual interpretation of satellite scenes at a scale of 1:250 000, conducted by local professionals, where possible, and internationally experienced professionals in other areas Multi-date image interpretations were manually compared to one another Ground information was incorporated into about 50 percent of the interpretations In some areas, ground truthing was not necessary, owing to the large and consistent amount of forest In other locations, especially where the composition of the landscape was highly differentiated, it was found to be very valuable The principal output of the remote sensing survey was a change matrix that illustrated and quantified how the forest and landscape change over time The forest and land cover classification scheme of the remote sensing survey was linked closely to the FRA classes for global reporting by countries Different definitions of forests for developing and industrialized countries limited the utility of the final global synthesis, as did the absence of change information on forests in industrialized countries Only changes in the area of forest, combined with other wooded land, were assessed (the definition of forest was again set at 20 percent crown cover density for industrialized countries and 10 percent for developing countries) The assessment covered the parameters of volume, biomass, annual harvesting (tropics) and plantations Brief summaries were also prepared on conservation, forest management and biological diversity Unfortunately, the country briefs prominent in FRA 1980 were discontinued Major findings on forest area and forest area change • Total forest area (global) 1990: 3.4 billion hectares • Net forest change (tropical developing countries) 1980–1990: -13.6 million hectares per year • Net forest change (global) 1980–1990: -9.9 million hectares per year (forest and other wooded land combined) Interim 1995 assessment An interim 1995 assessment was published in State of the World’s Forests 1997 (FAO, 1997b) This report published new statistics on forest area status and change for all countries with a reference year of 1995, and a change interval from 1991–1995 The definition of forest set canopy closure thresholds at 20 percent for industrialized countries and 10 percent for developing countries The baseline information set was drawn, with a minimum of updating, from FRA 1990 data and had an average reference year of 1983 Although FAO contacted all developing countries and requested their latest inventory reports, updated information was submitted and used only for Brazil, Bolivia, Cambodia, Côte d’Ivoire, GuineaBissau, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Sierra Leone 319 320 Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 The FRA 1990 deforestation model was used to adjust developing country statistics to standard reference years (1991 and 1995) No adjustments to standard reference years were made for industrialized country statistics Consequently, the industrialized and developing country data were not harmonized in terms of their definitions or reference year Major findings on forest area and forest area change • Total forest area (global) 1995: 3.4 billion hectares • Net forest change (tropical developing countries) 1990–1995: -12.7 million hectares per year • Net forest change (global): -11.3 million hectares per year (total forests) FRA 2000 FRA 2000 improved on previous assessments in several ways It covered more countries and parameters and used a single global definition of forest The average national inventory year for information was closer to the global reporting year than in previous assessments More support than in the past was given to country capacity-building, and new technologies, such as remote sensing, were used extensively Reliability of the results was thus greatly enhanced, but there were still many information gaps In FRA 2000, a uniform definition of forest – 10 percent canopy cover – was used for all regions of the world Revised estimates were made for the area of temperate and boreal forests in 1990 using the definition and methodology adopted in 2000 An independent remote sensing survey used the same 117 sample units used in FRA 1990 and added recent Landsat satellite images, which made the production of statistics possible on forest and other land cover changes from 1980 to 2000 The resulting change matrix illustrated and quantified changes in the forest and landscape over time The survey showed different patterns among regions within the tropics, which may have reflected general land-use patterns and policies In Latin America, large-scale, direct conversion of forests dominated Direct conversions also dominated in Africa, but on a smaller scale In Asia, the area of gradual conversions (intensification of shifting agriculture) was equal to the direct conversions from forests to other land uses At the global level, direct conversions dominated the picture, accounting for about three-quarters of the converted area Most tropical deforestation was thus a result of rapid, planned or large-scale conversion to other land uses, mainly agriculture Efforts were made to increase the transparency and availability of background information Many working papers were published in order to provide details on key countries and topics Statistics, together with their underlying analyses and assumptions, were published on the FAO website Countries were officially requested to confirm their key statistics before publication As a follow-up, a dedicated issue of Unasylva (FAO, 2002c) reviewed forest resources assessment processes at global and national levels The Kotka IV expert consultation in 2002 also reviewed the FRA 2000 process and results (Luhtala and Varjo, 2003) Major findings on forest area and forest area change • Total forest area (global) 2000: Nearly 3.9 billion hectares, of which 95 percent was natural forest and percent forest plantations Net forest change (global) 1990–2000: -9.4 million hectares per year (forest) Global deforestation 1990–2000: 14.6 million hectares Global increase in forest area due to afforestation and natural expansion of forests during the same period: average of 5.2 million hectares per year Net forest change (tropical countries) 1990–2000: -12.3 million hectares per year • Net forest change (non-tropical countries) 1990–2000: 2.9 million hectares per year ... sustainable forest management: • Extent of forest resources • Biological diversity • Forest health and vitality • Productive functions of forest resources • Protective functions of forest resources... Annex 10 Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005 11 Chapter Extent of forest resources OVERVIEW Extent of forest resources is the first of the thematic elements characterizing sustainable forest. .. towards sustainable forest management at the global level Thematic element Extent of forest resources Biological diversity Forest health and vitality Productive functions of forest resources Protective