Forest cover area by country globally, 2021 (Million Square Kilometers)
World Bank
13 May 2024
Over half of the world's green cover is spread across the boreal forests of Russia and Canada, the Amazon in South America, and Chinaโs coniferous and broad-leaved forests. Russia possesses the largest forest cover globally, spanning 8.15 million square kilometers (M kmยฒ), accounting for nearly 50% of the country's land area and roughly one-fifth of the world's forest cover. Brazil ranks second with 4.95M kmยฒ, largely due to the Amazon rainforest which covers nearly two-thirds of the country's forested area. Despite its significant forest resources, Brazil has experienced substantial deforestation, losing a net of half a million square kilometers of forest between 2001 and 2021. The primary drivers of this deforestation include agricultural expansion for beef and soy production, mining, and infrastructure growth, which consequently led to periodic fires in the Amazon. Forests play a crucial role in purifying the air, filtering water, preventing soil erosion, and mitigating climate change. They act as a net carbon sink, absorbing an estimated 7.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually; equivalent to over 1.5 times the annual COโ emissions of the United States and approximately 30% of global carbon emissions. As such, forests are indispensable in regulating temperature and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
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