106-960: An experimental forest , or experimental range , as defined by the United States Forest Service , is "an area administered ... 'to provide for the research necessary for the management of the land.'" According to the USFS, "Most Experimental Forests are large enough to contain significant stream systems and several dozen contain experimental watershed study sites with multiple paired basins ." Individual experimental forests range from 0.47 to 225 km (120 to 55,600 acres) in area. Experimental forests are distinguished from research natural areas and intensive monitoring sites. The present system of 80 experimental forests and ranges began in 1908. Many experimental forest are more than 50 years old. The system provides places for long-term science and management studies in major vegetation types of
212-570: A Latinate word denoting a woodland, may be admitted; in a specific technical sense it is restricted to denoting the species of trees that comprise the woodlands of a region, as in its sense in the subject of silviculture . The resorting to sylva in English indicates more precisely the denotation that the use of forest intends. The first known forests on Earth arose in the Middle Devonian (approximately 390 million years ago ), with
318-833: A 3.2% rise in global deforestation. Massive wildfires in Canada , exacerbated by climate change , contributed to a 24% increase in global tree cover loss, highlighting the ongoing threats to forests essential for carbon storage and biodiversity . Despite some progress, the overall trends in forest destruction and climate impacts remain off track. The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report stated in 2022: “Over 420 million ha of forest were lost to deforestation from 1990 to 2020; more than 90% of that loss took place in tropical areas (high confidence), threatening biodiversity, environmental services, livelihoods of forest communities and resilience to climate shocks (high confidence).” See also: Global deforestation sharply accelerated around 1852. As of 1947,
424-464: A combination of measures aimed at increasing forest carbon stocks, andsustainable timber offtake will generate the largest carbon sequestration benefit. The term forest-dependent people is used to describe any of a wide variety of livelihoods that are dependent on access to forests, products harvested from forests, or ecosystem services provided by forests, including those of Indigenous peoples dependent on forests. In India , approximately 22 percent of
530-405: A different classification of forest vegetation is often used: tree, shrub, herb, and moss layers (see stratification (vegetation) ). Forests are classified differently and to different degrees of specificity. One such classification is in terms of the biomes in which they exist, combined with leaf longevity of the dominant species (whether they are evergreen or deciduous ). Another distinction
636-437: A few main pathways, including increase in commercial tree plantations, adoption of agroforestry techniques by small farmers, or spontaneous regeneration when former agricultural land is abandoned. It can be motivated by the economic benefits of forests, the ecosystem services forests provide, or cultural changes where people increasingly appreciate forests for their spiritual, aesthetic, or otherwise intrinsic value. According to
742-511: A forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ . It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use." Using this definition, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 found that forests covered 4.06 billion hectares (10.0 billion acres; 40.6 million square kilometres; 15.7 million square miles), or approximately 31 percent of
848-409: A forest may be of a great variety of species (as in tropical rainforests and temperate deciduous forests ), or relatively few species over large areas (e.g., taiga and arid montane coniferous forests). The biodiversity of forests also encompasses shrubs , herbaceous plants, mosses , ferns , lichens , fungi , and a variety of animals . Trees rising up to 35 meters (115 ft) in height add
954-550: A forested area by cutting or burning, either to harvest timber or to make way for farming. Most deforestation today occurs in tropical forests. The vast majority of this deforestation is because of the production of four commodities: wood , beef , soy , and palm oil . Over the past 2,000 years, the area of land covered by forest in Europe has been reduced from 80% to 34%. Large areas of forest have also been cleared in China and in
1060-452: A legal term, as seen in Latin texts such as Magna Carta , to denote uncultivated land that was legally designated for hunting by feudal nobility (see royal forest ). These hunting forests did not necessarily contain any trees. Because that often included significant areas of woodland, "forest" eventually came to connote woodland in general, regardless of tree density. By the beginning of
1166-403: A locale with more open space between trees, and distinguish kinds of woodlands as open forests and closed forests , premised on their crown covers . Finally, sylva (plural sylvae or, less classically, sylvas ) is a peculiar English spelling of the Latin silva , denoting a "woodland", and has precedent in English, including its plural forms. While its use as a synonym of forest , and as
SECTION 10
#17327907799341272-583: A region, releasing water from their leaves in anticipation of seasonal rains to trigger the wet season early. Because of this, seasonal rainfall in the Amazon begins two to three months earlier than the climate would otherwise allow. Deforestation in the Amazon and anthropogenic climate change hold the potential to interfere with this process, causing the forest to pass a threshold where it transitions into savanna. Deforestation threatens many forest ecosystems. Deforestation occurs when humans remove trees from
1378-722: A vertical dimension to the area of land that can support plant and animal species, opening up numerous ecological niches for arboreal animal species, epiphytes , and various species that thrive under the regulated microclimate created under the canopy. Forests have intricate three-dimensional structures that increase in complexity with lower levels of disturbance and greater variety of tree species. The biodiversity of forests varies considerably according to factors such as forest type, geography, climate, and soils – in addition to human use. Most forest habitats in temperate regions support relatively few animal and plant species, and species that tend to have large geographical distributions, while
1484-412: A wide range of characteristics. Generally, richer households derive more cash value from forest resources, whereas among poorer households, forest resources are more important for home consumption and increase community resilience. Forests are fundamental to the culture and livelihood of indigenous people groups that live in and depend on forests, many of which have been removed from and denied access to
1590-407: Is agreement that destruction of rainforests remains a significant environmental problem. The rate of net forest loss declined from 7.8 million ha per year in the decade 1990–2000 to 5.2 million ha per year in 2000–2010 and 4.7 million ha per year in 2010–2020. The rate of decline of net forest loss slowed in the most recent decade due to a reduction in the rate of forest expansion. In many parts of
1696-636: Is agriculture by far. More than 80% of deforestation was attributed to agriculture in 2018. Forests are being converted to plantations for coffee , palm oil , rubber and various other popular products. Livestock grazing also drives deforestation. Further drivers are the wood industry ( logging ), urbanization and mining . The effects of climate change are another cause via the increased risk of wildfires (see deforestation and climate change ). Deforestation results in habitat destruction which in turn leads to biodiversity loss . Deforestation also leads to extinction of animals and plants, changes to
1802-407: Is also important for the agricultural sector. The reason for this linkage is because the effects of climate change on agriculture pose new risks to global food systems . Since 1990, it is estimated that some 420 million hectares of forest have been lost through conversion to other land uses , although the rate of deforestation has decreased over the past three decades. Between 2015 and 2020,
1908-758: Is around 38%. Since 1960, roughly 15% of the Amazon has been removed with the intention of replacing the land with agricultural practices. It is no coincidence that Brazil has recently become the world's largest beef exporter at the same time that the Amazon rainforest is being clear cut. Another prevalent method of agricultural deforestation is slash-and-burn agriculture , which was primarily used by subsistence farmers in tropical regions but has now become increasingly less sustainable. The method does not leave land for continuous agricultural production but instead cuts and burns small plots of forest land which are then converted into agricultural zones. The farmers then exploit
2014-401: Is based on tree densities measured on over 400,000 plots. It remains subject to a wide margin of error, not least because the samples are mainly from Europe and North America. Forests can also be classified according to the amount of human alteration. Old-growth forest contains mainly natural patterns of biodiversity in established seral patterns, and they contain mainly species native to
2120-630: Is high compared to other vegetation communities. Much of this biomass occurs below ground in the root systems and as partially decomposed plant detritus . The woody component of a forest contains lignin , which is relatively slow to decompose compared with other organic materials such as cellulose or carbohydrate. The world's forests contain about 606 gigatonnes of living biomass (above- and below-ground) and 59 gigatonnes of dead wood. The total biomass has decreased slightly since 1990, but biomass per unit area has increased. Forest ecosystems broadly differ based on climate ; latitudes 10° north and south of
2226-417: Is legally protected from resource development. Much more forest land—about 40 percent of the total forest land base—is subject to varying degrees of protection through processes such as integrated land use planning or defined management areas, such as certified forests. Deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that
SECTION 20
#17327907799342332-552: Is not an issue because of longer fallow periods and lesser overall deforestation. The relatively small size of the plots allowed for no net input of CO 2 to be released. Consumption and production of beef is the primary driver of deforestation in the Amazon , with around 80% of all converted land being used to rear cattle. 91% of Amazon land deforested since 1970 has been converted to cattle ranching. Livestock ranching requires large portions of land to raise herds of animals and livestock crops for consumer needs. According to
2438-543: Is not on track to meet the target of the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests to increase forest area by 3 percent by 2030. While deforestation is taking place in some areas, new forests are being established through natural expansion or deliberate efforts in other areas. As a result, the net loss of forest area is less than the rate of deforestation; and it, too, is decreasing: from 7.8 million hectares (19 million acres) per year in
2544-453: Is projected to occur by the mid-21st century. In the early 2000s, some scientists predicted that unless significant measures (such as seeking out and protecting old growth forests that have not been disturbed) are taken on a worldwide basis, by 2030 there will only be 10% remaining, with another 10% in a degraded condition . 80% will have been lost, and with them hundreds of thousands of irreplaceable species. Estimates vary widely as to
2650-727: Is responsible for 48% of deforestation; commercial agriculture is responsible for 32%; logging is responsible for 14%, and fuel wood removals make up 5%. More than 80% of deforestation was attributed to agriculture in 2018. Forests are being converted to plantations for coffee, tea, palm oil , rice, rubber , and various other popular products. The rising demand for certain products and global trade arrangements causes forest conversions , which ultimately leads to soil erosion . The top soil oftentimes erodes after forests are cleared which leads to sediment increase in rivers and streams. Most deforestation also occurs in tropical regions. The estimated amount of total land mass used by agriculture
2756-428: Is that forests can turn from a carbon sink to a carbon source if plant diversity, density or forest area decreases, as has been observed in different tropical forests The typical tropical forest may become a carbon source by the 2060s. An assessment of European forests found early signs of carbon sink saturation, after decades of increasing strength. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that
2862-403: Is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms , ranches , or urban use. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests at present. This is one-third less than the forest cover before the expansion of agriculture, with half of that loss occurring in the last century. Between 15 million to 18 million hectares of forest, an area
2968-416: Is whether the forests are composed predominantly of broadleaf trees, coniferous (needle-leaved) trees, or mixed. The number of trees in the world, according to a 2015 estimate, is 3 trillion, of which 1.4 trillion are in the tropics or sub-tropics, 0.6 trillion in the temperate zones, and 0.7 trillion in the coniferous boreal forests. The 2015 estimate is about eight times higher than previous estimates, and
3074-560: The Congolese rainforest increased by 5%. The World Wildlife Fund 's ecoregion project catalogues habitat types throughout the world, including habitat loss such as deforestation, showing for example that even in the rich forests of parts of Canada such as the Mid-Continental Canadian forests of the prairie provinces half of the forest cover has been lost or altered. In 2011, Conservation International listed
3180-554: The Equator , and temperate forests at the middle latitudes . Forests form in areas of the Earth with high rainfall, while drier conditions produce a transition to savanna . However, in areas with intermediate rainfall levels, forest transitions to savanna rapidly when the percentage of land that is covered by trees drops below 40 to 45 percent. Research conducted in the Amazon rainforest shows that trees can alter rainfall rates across
3286-651: The Medieval Latin foresta , denoting "open wood", Carolingian scribes first used foresta in the capitularies of Charlemagne , specifically to denote the royal hunting grounds of the king. The word was not endemic to the Romance languages , e.g., native words for forest in the Romance languages derived from the Latin silva , which denoted "forest" and " wood(land) " ( cf. the English sylva and sylvan ;
Experimental forest - Misplaced Pages Continue
3392-730: The Philippines , Indonesia , Thailand , Burma , Malaysia , Bangladesh , China, Sri Lanka , Laos , Nigeria , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Liberia , Guinea , Ghana and the Ivory Coast , have lost large areas of their rainforest. Much of what remains of the world's rainforests is in the Amazon basin , where the Amazon Rainforest covers approximately 4 million square kilometres. Some 80% of
3498-592: The Proto-Germanic * furhísa- , * furhíþija- , denoting "a fir-wood , coniferous forest", from the Proto-Indo-European * perk u- , denoting "a coniferous or mountain forest , wooded height" all attest to the Frankish * forhist . Uses of forest in English to denote any uninhabited and unenclosed area are presently considered archaic. The Norman rulers of England introduced the word as
3604-554: The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , to avoid temperature rise by more than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, there will need to be an increase in global forest cover equal to the land area of Canada (10 million square kilometres (3.9 million square miles)) by 2050. China instituted a ban on logging, beginning in 1998, due to
3710-592: The World Resources Institute recorded that only 20% of the world's original forests remained in large intact tracts of undisturbed forest. More than 75% of these intact forests lie in three countries: the boreal forests of Russia and Canada, and the rainforest of Brazil. According to Food and Agriculture Organization 's (FAO) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 , an estimated 420 million hectares (1.0 billion acres) of forest have been lost worldwide through deforestation since 1990, but
3816-479: The World Wildlife Fund , "Extensive cattle ranching is the number one culprit of deforestation in virtually every Amazon country, and it accounts for 80% of current deforestation." The cattle industry is responsible for a significant amount of methane emissions since 60% of all mammals on earth are livestock cows. Replacing forest land with pastures creates a loss of forest stock , which leads to
3922-418: The boreal region and in the seasonally dry tropics. At high latitudes, north of the main zone of boreal forestland, growing conditions are not adequate to maintain a continuously closed forest cover , so tree cover is both sparse and discontinuous. This vegetation is variously called open taiga , open lichen woodland, and forest tundra. A savanna is a mixed woodland – grassland ecosystem characterized by
4028-407: The equator are mostly covered in tropical rainforest , and the latitudes between 53°N and 67°N have boreal forest . As a general rule, forests dominated by angiosperms ( broadleaf forests ) are more species-rich than those dominated by gymnosperms ( conifer , montane , or needleleaf forests ), although exceptions exist. The trees that form the principal structural and defining component of
4134-408: The slash and burn practices of swidden agriculture or shifting cultivation . The loss and re-growth of forests lead to a distinction between two broad types of forest: primary or old-growth forest and secondary forest . There are also many natural factors that can cause changes in forests over time, including forest fires , insects , diseases , weather, competition between species, etc. In 1997,
4240-581: The 195,000,000 acres (790,000 km) of public land administered by the Forest Service. [REDACTED] Media related to Experimental forests at Wikimedia Commons Forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees . Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines
4346-429: The 1990s to 4.7 million hectares (12 million acres) per year during 2010–2020. In absolute terms, the global forest area decreased by 178 million hectares (440 million acres; 1,780,000 square kilometres; 690,000 square miles) between 1990 and 2020, which is an area about the size of Libya. Forests provide a diversity of ecosystem services including: The main ecosystem services can be summarized in
Experimental forest - Misplaced Pages Continue
4452-521: The 1990s. In 2015, a study for Nature Climate Change showed that the trend has recently been reversed, leading to an "overall gain" in global biomass and forests. This gain is due especially to reforestation in China and Russia. New forests are not equivalent to old growth forests in terms of species diversity, resilience, and carbon capture. On 7 September 2015, the FAO released a new study stating that over
4558-459: The Earth's plant biomass . Net primary production is estimated at 21.9 gigatonnes of biomass per year for tropical forests , 8.1 for temperate forests , and 2.6 for boreal forests . Forests form distinctly different biomes at different latitudes and elevations, and with different precipitation and evapotranspiration rates. These biomes include boreal forests in subarctic climates, tropical moist forests and tropical dry forests around
4664-725: The Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese selva ; the Romanian silvă ; the Old French selve ). Cognates of forest in Romance languages—e.g., the Italian foresta , Spanish and Portuguese floresta , etc.—are all ultimately derivations of the French word. The precise origin of Medieval Latin foresta is obscure. Some authorities claim the word derives from the Late Latin phrase forestam silvam , denoting "the outer wood"; others claim
4770-452: The U.S. state of Wisconsin , forests managed by indigenous people have more plant diversity, fewer invasive species, higher tree regeneration rates, and higher volume of trees. Forest management has changed considerably over the last few centuries, with rapid changes from the 1980s onward, culminating in a practice now referred to as sustainable forest management . Forest ecologists concentrate on forest patterns and processes, usually with
4876-460: The aim of elucidating cause-and-effect relationships. Foresters who practice sustainable forest management focus on the integration of ecological, social, and economic values, often in consultation with local communities and other stakeholders . Humans have generally decreased the amount of forest worldwide. Anthropogenic factors that can affect forests include logging, urban sprawl , human-caused forest fires , acid rain , invasive species , and
4982-420: The basis of the variation of physiognomy corresponding to changes in altitude. Tropical dry forests are characteristic of areas in the tropics affected by seasonal drought. The seasonality of rainfall is usually reflected in the deciduousness of the forest canopy, with most trees being leafless for several months of the year. Under some conditions, such as less fertile soils or less predictable drought regimes,
5088-590: The canopy; but other taxa are also important. In the Southern Hemisphere , most coniferous trees (members of Araucariaceae and Podocarpaceae ) occur mixed with broadleaf species, and are classed as broadleaf-and-mixed forests. Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests include a substantial component of trees of the Anthophyta group. They are generally characteristic of the warmer temperate latitudes, but extend to cool temperate ones, particularly in
5194-423: The children live. Canada has about 4 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles) of forest land. More than 90% of forest land is publicly owned and about 50% of the total forest area is allocated for harvesting. These allocated areas are managed using the principles of sustainable forest management, which include extensive consultation with local stakeholders. About eight percent of Canada's forest
5300-642: The commodity is consumed. For example, consumption patterns in G7 countries are estimated to cause an average loss of 3.9 trees per person per year. In other words, deforestation can be directly related to imports—for example, coffee. In 2023, the Global Forest Watch reported a 9% decline in tropical primary forest loss compared to the previous year, with significant regional reductions in Brazil and Colombia overshadowed by increases elsewhere, leading to
5406-407: The conversion of forest to other land uses (regardless of whether it is human-induced). Deforestation and forest area net change are not the same: the latter is the sum of all forest losses (deforestation) and all forest gains (forest expansion) in a given period. Net change, therefore, can be positive or negative, depending on whether gains exceed losses, or vice versa. The FAO estimates that
SECTION 50
#17327907799345512-478: The country's western regions at a rate of 15,000 hectares at a randomly studied 2-month period in 2010. In 2009, Paraguay's parliament refused to pass a law that would have stopped cutting of natural forests altogether. As of 2007, less than 50% of Haiti's forests remained . From 2015 to 2019, the rate of deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo doubled. In 2021, deforestation of
5618-517: The cutoff points are between a forest, woodland , and savanna . Under some definitions, to be considered a forest requires very high levels of tree canopy cover, from 60% to 100%, which excludes woodlands and savannas, which have a lower canopy cover . Other definitions consider savannas to be a type of forest, and include all areas with tree canopies over 10%. Some areas covered with trees are legally defined as agricultural areas, for example Norway spruce plantations, under Austrian forest law, when
5724-731: The decades 1990–2000 and 2000–2010. Some claim that rainforests are being destroyed at an ever-quickening pace. The London-based Rainforest Foundation notes that "the UN figure is based on a definition of forest as being an area with as little as 10% actual tree cover, which would therefore include areas that are actually savanna-like ecosystems and badly damaged forests". Other critics of the FAO data point out that they do not distinguish between forest types, and that they are based largely on reporting from forestry departments of individual countries, which do not take into account unofficial activities like illegal logging. Despite these uncertainties, there
5830-498: The deforestation of the Amazon can be attributed to cattle ranching, as Brazil is the largest exporter of beef in the world. The Amazon region has become one of the largest cattle ranching territories in the world. The regions with the highest tropical deforestation rate between 2000 and 2005 were Central America —which lost 1.3% of its forests each year—and tropical Asia. In Central America , two-thirds of lowland tropical forests have been turned into pasture since 1950 and 40% of all
5936-418: The density of trees, area of tree canopy cover, or area of the land occupied by the cross-section of tree trunks ( basal area ) meeting a particular threshold. This type of definition depends upon the presence of trees sufficient to meet the threshold, or at least of immature trees that are expected to meet the threshold once they mature. Under land-cover definitions, there is considerable variation on where
6042-411: The eastern United States , in which only 0.1% of land was left undisturbed. Almost half of Earth's forest area (49 percent) is relatively intact, while 9 percent is found in fragments with little or no connectivity. Tropical rainforests and boreal coniferous forests are the least fragmented, whereas subtropical dry forests and temperate oceanic forests are among the most fragmented. Roughly 80 percent of
6148-585: The erosion and flooding that it caused. In addition, ambitious tree-planting programmes in countries such as China, India, the United States, and Vietnam – combined with natural expansion of forests in some regions – have added more than 7 million hectares (17 million acres) of new forests annually. As a result, the net loss of forest area was reduced to 5.2 million hectares (13 million acres) per year between 2000 and 2010, down from 8.3 million hectares (21 million acres) annually in
6254-465: The evolution of cladoxylopsid plants like Calamophyton . Appeared in the Late Devonian , Archaeopteris was both tree-like and fern -like plant, growing to 20 metres (66 ft) in height or more. It quickly spread throughout the world, from the equator to subpolar latitudes. It is the first species known to cast shade due to its fronds and forming soil from its roots. Archaeopteris
6360-463: The extent of deforestation in the tropics. In 2019, the world lost nearly 12 million hectares of tree cover. Nearly a third of that loss, 3.8 million hectares, occurred within humid tropical primary forests, areas of mature rainforest that are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage. This is equivalent to losing an area of primary forest the size of a football pitch every six seconds. A 2002 analysis of satellite imagery suggested that
6466-417: The forest ecosystem. Since 2002, the amount of land that is legally owned by or designated for indigenous peoples has broadly increased, but land acquisition in lower-income countries by multinational corporations, often with little or no consultation of indigenous peoples, has also increased. Research in the Amazon rainforest suggests that indigenous methods of agroforestry form reservoirs of biodiversity. In
SECTION 60
#17327907799346572-432: The form of charcoal or timber ), while cleared land is used as pasture for livestock and agricultural crops. The vast majority of agricultural activity resulting in deforestation is subsidized by government tax revenue . Disregard of ascribed value, lax forest management , and deficient environmental laws are some of the factors that lead to large-scale deforestation. The types of drivers vary greatly depending on
6678-415: The fourteenth century, English texts used the word in all three of its senses: common, legal, and archaic. Other English words used to denote "an area with a high density of trees" are firth , frith , holt , weald , wold , wood , and woodland . Unlike forest , these are all derived from Old English and were not borrowed from another language. Some present classifications reserve woodland for denoting
6784-568: The global forest carbon stock has decreased 0.9%, and tree cover 4.2% between 1990 and 2020. As of 2019 there is still disagreement about whether the global forest is shrinking or not: "While above-ground biomass carbon stocks are estimated to be declining in the tropics, they are increasing globally due to increasing stocks in temperate and boreal forest. Deforestation in many countries —both naturally occurring and human-induced —is an ongoing issue. Between 2000 and 2012, 2.3 million square kilometres (890,000 square miles) of forests around
6890-542: The higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere , as well as some warm temperate areas, especially on nutrient-poor or otherwise unfavourable soils. These forests are composed entirely, or nearly so, of coniferous species ( Coniferophyta ). In the Northern Hemisphere, pines Pinus , spruces Picea , larches Larix , firs Abies , Douglas firs Pseudotsuga , and hemlocks Tsuga make up
6996-402: The implication of increased greenhouse gas emissions by burning agriculture methodologies and land-use change . A large contributing factor to deforestation is the lumber industry . A total of almost 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) of timber, or about 1.3% of all forest land, is harvested each year. In addition, the increasing demand for low-cost timber products only supports
7102-469: The lands on which they lived as part of global colonialism . Indigenous lands contain 36% or more of intact forest worldwide, host more biodiversity, and experience less deforestation. Indigenous activists have argued that degradation of forests and indigenous peoples' marginalization and land dispossession are interconnected. Other concerns among indigenous peoples include lack of Indigenous involvement in forest management and loss of knowledge related for
7208-702: The largest annual rate of net forest loss in 2010–2020, at 3.9 million ha, followed by South America, at 2.6 million ha. The rate of net forest loss has increased in Africa in each of the three decades since 1990. It has declined substantially in South America, however, to about half the rate in 2010–2020 compared with 2000–2010. Asia had the highest net gain of forest area in 2010–2020, followed by Oceania and Europe. Nevertheless, both Europe and Asia recorded substantially lower rates of net gain in 2010–2020 than in 2000–2010. Oceania experienced net losses of forest area in
7314-493: The last 25 years the global deforestation rate has decreased by 50% due to improved management of forests and greater government protection. There is an estimated 726 million hectares (1.79 billion acres) of forest in protected areas worldwide. Of the six major world regions, South America has the highest share of forests in protected areas, at 31 percent. The area of such areas globally has increased by 191 million hectares (470 million acres) since 1990, but
7420-483: The local climate, and displacement of indigenous people who live in forests. Deforested regions often also suffer from other environmental problems such as desertification and soil erosion . Another problem is that deforestation reduces the uptake of carbon dioxide ( carbon sequestration ) from the atmosphere. This reduces the potential of forests to assist with climate change mitigation . The role of forests in capturing and storing carbon and mitigating climate change
7526-430: The main driver of deforestation and forest fragmentation and the associated loss of forest biodiversity. Large-scale commercial agriculture (primarily cattle ranching and cultivation of soya bean and oil palm) accounted for 40 percent of tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2010, and local subsistence agriculture for another 33 percent. Trees are cut down for use as building material, timber or sold as fuel (sometimes in
7632-991: The montane forests of Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and lowland forests of Australia, coastal Brazil, the Caribbean islands, Central America, and insular Southeast Asia have many species with small geographical distributions. Areas with dense human populations and intense agricultural land use, such as Europe, parts of Bangladesh, China, India, and North America, are less intact in terms of their biodiversity. Northern Africa, southern Australia, coastal Brazil, Madagascar, and South Africa are also identified as areas with striking losses in biodiversity intactness. A forest consists of many components that can be broadly divided into two categories: biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living). The living parts include trees , shrubs , vines , grasses and other herbaceous (non-woody) plants, mosses , algae , fungi , insects , mammals , birds , reptiles , amphibians , and microorganisms living on
7738-530: The next table: Some researchers state that forests do not only provide benefits, but can in certain cases also incur costs to humans. Forests may impose an economic burden, diminish the enjoyment of natural areas, reduce the food-producing capacity of grazing land and cultivated land, reduce biodiversity, reduce available water for humans and wildlife, harbour dangerous or destructive wildlife, and act as reservoirs of human and livestock disease. An important consideration regarding carbon sequestration
7844-460: The nutrients in the ashes of the burned plants. As well as, intentionally set fires can possibly lead to devastating measures when unintentionally spreading fire to more land, which can result in the destruction of the protective canopy. The repeated cycle of low yields and shortened fallow periods eventually results in less vegetation being able to grow on once burned lands and a decrease in average soil biomass. In small local plots sustainability
7950-514: The original 16 million square kilometres (6 million square miles) of tropical rainforest that formerly covered the Earth. More than 3.6 million hectares of virgin tropical forest was lost in 2018. The global annual net loss of trees is estimated to be approximately 10 billion. According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 the global average annual deforested land in the 2015–2020 demi-decade
8056-418: The other hand, a 2005 analysis of satellite images reveals that deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is twice as fast as scientists previously estimated. From 2010 to 2015, worldwide forest area decreased by 3.3 million ha per year, according to FAO . During this five-year period, the biggest forest area loss occurred in the tropics, particularly in South America and Africa. Per capita forest area decline
8162-410: The planet had 15 to 16 million km (5.8 to 6.2 million sq mi) of mature tropical forests , but by 2015, it was estimated that about half of these had been destroyed. Total land coverage by tropical rainforests decreased from 14% to 6%. Much of this loss happened between 1960 and 1990, when 20% of all tropical rainforests were destroyed. At this rate, extinction of such forests
8268-411: The plants and animals and in the soil, connected by mycorrhizal networks . The main layers of all forest types are the forest floor , the understory, and the canopy. The emergent layer, above the canopy, exists in tropical rainforests. Each layer has a different set of plants and animals, depending upon the availability of sunlight, moisture, and food. In botany and countries like Germany and Poland,
8374-512: The population belongs to forest-dependent communities, which live in close proximity to forests and practice agroforestry as a principal part of their livelihood. People of Ghana who rely on timber and bushmeat harvested from forests and Indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest are also examples of forest-dependent people. Though forest-dependence by more common definitions is statistically associated with poverty and rural livelihoods, elements of forest-dependence exist in communities with
8480-615: The proportion of evergreen species increases and the forests are characterised as " sclerophyllous ". Thorn forest , a dense forest of low stature with a high frequency of thorny or spiny species, is found where drought is prolonged, and especially where grazing animals are plentiful. On very poor soils, and especially where fire or herbivory are recurrent phenomena, savannas develop. Sparse trees and savanna are forests with sparse tree- canopy cover. They occur principally in areas of transition from forested to non-forested landscapes. The two major zones in which these ecosystems occur are in
8586-492: The rainforests have been lost in the last 40 years. Brazil has lost 90–95% of its Mata Atlântica forest. Deforestation in Brazil increased by 88% for the month of June 2019, as compared with the previous year. However, Brazil still destroyed 1.3 million hectares in 2019. Brazil is one of several countries that have declared their deforestation a national emergency. Paraguay was losing its natural semi-humid forests in
8692-428: The rate of forest loss has declined substantially. In the most recent five-year period (2015–2020), the annual rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares (25 million acres), down from 12 million hectares (30 million acres) annually in 2010–2015. The transition of a region from forest loss to net gain in forested land is referred to as the forest transition. This change occurs through
8798-465: The rate of annual increase slowed in 2010–2020. Smaller areas of woodland in cities may be managed as urban forestry , sometimes within public parks. These are often created for human benefits; Attention Restoration Theory argues that spending time in nature reduces stress and improves health, while forest schools and kindergartens help young people to develop social as well as scientific skills in forests. These typically need to be close to where
8904-472: The rate of deforestation in the humid tropics (approximately 5.8 million hectares per year) was roughly 23% lower than the most commonly quoted rates. A 2005 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that although the Earth's total forest area continued to decrease at about 13 million hectares per year, the global rate of deforestation had been slowing. On
9010-404: The rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares per year, down from 16 million hectares per year in the 1990s. The area of primary forest worldwide has decreased by over 80 million hectares since 1990. More than 100 million hectares of forests are adversely affected by forest fires, pests, diseases, invasive species , drought and adverse weather events. Deforestation is defined as
9116-460: The region and habitat. In contrast, secondary forest is forest regrowing following timber harvest and may contain species originally from other regions or habitats. Different global forest classification systems have been proposed, but none has gained universal acceptance. UNEP - WCMC 's forest category classification system is a simplification of other, more complex systems (e.g. UNESCO 's forest and woodland 'subformations'). This system divides
9222-476: The region in which they take place. The regions with the greatest amount of deforestation for livestock and row crop agriculture are Central and South America, while commodity crop deforestation was found mainly in Southeast Asia. The region with the greatest forest loss due to shifting agriculture was sub-Saharan Africa. The overwhelming direct cause of deforestation is agriculture. Subsistence farming
9328-461: The size of Bangladesh , are destroyed every year. On average 2,400 trees are cut down each minute. Estimates vary widely as to the extent of deforestation in the tropics . In 2019, nearly a third of the overall tree cover loss, or 3.8 million hectares, occurred within humid tropical primary forests . These are areas of mature rainforest that are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage . The direct cause of most deforestation
9434-470: The size of India—by 2050. 36% of globally planted forest area is in East Asia – around 950,000 square kilometers. From those 87% are in China. Rates of deforestation vary around the world. Up to 90% of West Africa 's coastal rainforests have disappeared since 1900. Madagascar has lost 90% of its eastern rainforests. In South Asia , about 88% of the rainforests have been lost. Mexico , India ,
9540-616: The southern hemisphere. They include such forest types as the mixed deciduous forests of the United States and their counterparts in China and Japan; the broadleaf evergreen rainforests of Japan, Chile , and Tasmania ; the sclerophyllous forests of Australia, central Chile, the Mediterranean , and California; and the southern beech Nothofagus forests of Chile and New Zealand. There are many different types of tropical moist forests , with lowland evergreen broad-leaf tropical rainforests : for example várzea and igapó forests and
9646-690: The terra firme forests of the Amazon Basin ; the peat swamp forests ; dipterocarp forests of Southeast Asia ; and the high forests of the Congo Basin . Seasonal tropical forests , perhaps the best description for the colloquial term " jungle ", typically range from the rainforest zone 10 degrees north or south of the equator , to the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn . Forests located on mountains are also included in this category, divided largely into upper and lower montane formations, on
9752-467: The top 10 most endangered forests, characterized by having all lost 90% or more of their original habitat , and each harboring at least 1500 endemic plant species (species found nowhere else in the world). As of 2015 , it is estimated that 70% of the world's forests are within one kilometer of a forest edge, where they are most prone to human interference and destruction. Deforestation in particular countries: Agricultural expansion continues to be
9858-476: The trees are being grown as Christmas trees and are below a certain height. The word forest derives from the Old French forest (also forès ), denoting "forest, vast expanse covered by trees"; forest was first introduced into English as the word denoting wild land set aside for hunting without necessarily having trees on the land. Possibly a borrowing, probably via Frankish or Old High German , of
9964-425: The trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer that consists primarily of grasses. Savannas maintain an open canopy despite a high tree density. Forest plantations are generally intended for the production of timber and pulpwood . Commonly mono-specific, planted with even spacing between
10070-403: The trees, and intensively managed, these forests are generally important as habitat for native biodiversity . Some are managed in ways that enhance their biodiversity protection functions and can provide ecosystem services such as nutrient capital maintenance, watershed and soil structure protection and carbon storage. The annual net loss of forest area has decreased since 1990, but the world
10176-505: The type of vegetation that grows upon the land; an area can be legally designated "forest" even if no trees grow on it. Land-use definitions are based on the primary purpose the land is used for. Under a land-use definition, any area used primarily for harvesting timber, including areas that have been cleared by harvesting, disease, fire, or for the construction of roads and infrastructure, are still defined as forests, even if they contain no trees. Land-cover definitions define forests based upon
10282-626: The word forest is commonly used, there is no universally recognised precise definition, with more than 800 definitions of forest used around the world. Although a forest is usually defined by the presence of trees, under many definitions an area completely lacking trees may still be considered a forest if it grew trees in the past, will grow trees in the future, or was legally designated as a forest regardless of vegetation type. There are three broad categories of definitions of forest in use: administrative, land use , and land cover . Administrative definitions are legal designations, and may not reflect
10388-461: The word is a Latinisation of the Frankish * forhist , denoting "forest, wooded country", and was assimilated to forestam silvam , pursuant to the common practice of Frankish scribes. The Old High German forst denoting "forest"; Middle Low German vorst denoting "forest"; Old English fyrhþ denoting "forest, woodland, game preserve, hunting ground" (English frith ); and Old Norse fýri , denoting " coniferous forest "; all of which derive from
10494-473: The world were cut down. Deforestation and forest degradation continue to take place at alarming rates, which contributes significantly to the ongoing loss of biodiversity . Deforestation is more extreme in tropical and subtropical forests in emerging economies. More than half of all plant and land animal species in the world live in tropical forests . As a result of deforestation, only 6.2 million square kilometres (2.4 million square miles) remain of
10600-579: The world's forest area is found in patches larger than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres). The remaining 20 percent is located in more than 34 million patches around the world – the vast majority less than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) in size. Human society and forests can affect one another positively or negatively. Forests provide ecosystem services to humans and serve as tourist attractions. Forests can also affect people's health. Human activities, including unsustainable use of forest resources, can negatively affect forest ecosystems. Although
10706-416: The world's forests into 26 major types, which reflect climatic zones as well as the principal types of trees. These 26 major types can be reclassified into 6 broader categories: temperate needleleaf, temperate broadleaf and mixed, tropical moist, tropical dry, sparse trees and parkland, and forest plantations. Each category is described in a separate section below. Temperate needleleaf forests mostly occupy
10812-420: The world's land area in 2020. Forests are the largest terrestrial ecosystems of Earth by area, and are found around the globe. 45 percent of forest land is in the tropical latitudes . The next largest share of forests are found in subarctic climates , followed by temperate , and subtropical zones. Forests account for 75% of the gross primary production of the Earth's biosphere , and contain 80% of
10918-576: The world, especially in East Asian countries, reforestation and afforestation are increasing the area of forested lands. The amount of forest has increased in 22 of the world's 50 most forested nations. Asia as a whole gained 1 million hectares of forest between 2000 and 2005. Tropical forest in El Salvador expanded more than 20% between 1992 and 2001. Based on these trends, one study projects that global forestation will increase by 10%—an area
11024-436: Was deciduous , dropping its fronds onto the forest floor, the shade, soil, and forest duff from the dropped fronds creating the early forest. The shed organic matter altered the freshwater environment, slowing its flow and providing food. This promoted freshwater fish. Forests account for 75% of the gross primary productivity of the Earth's biosphere , and contain 80% of the Earth's plant biomass. Biomass per unit area
11130-456: Was 10 million hectares and the average annual forest area net loss in the 2000–2010 decade was 4.7 million hectares. The world has lost 178 million ha of forest since 1990, which is an area about the size of Libya. An analysis of global deforestation patterns in 2021 showed that patterns of trade, production, and consumption drive deforestation rates in complex ways. While the location of deforestation can be mapped, it does not always match where
11236-461: Was also greatest in the tropics and subtropics but is occurring in every climatic domain (except in the temperate) as populations increase. An estimated 420 million ha of forest has been lost worldwide through deforestation since 1990, but the rate of forest loss has declined substantially. In the most recent five-year period (2015–2020), the annual rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million ha, down from 12 million ha in 2010–2015. Africa had
#933066