Indicator 15.1.1 Forest area as a proportion of total land area

Indicator 15.1.1: Forest area as a proportion of total land area

Target 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Definition:

Forest area as a proportion of total land area

Concepts:

To provide a precise definition of the indicator, it is crucial to provide a definition of its two components:

“Forest” and “Land Area”.

According to the FAO, Forest is defined 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 land use”. More specifically:

• Forest is determined both by the presence of trees and the absence of other predominant land uses. The trees should be able to reach a minimum height of 5 meters.
• It includes areas with young trees that have not yet reached but which are expected to reach a canopy cover of at least 10 percent and tree height of 5 meters or more. It also includes areas that are temporarily unstocked due to clear-cutting as part of a forest management practice or natural disasters, and which are expected to be regenerated within 5 years. Local conditions may, in exceptional cases, justify that a longer time frame is used.
• It includes forest roads, firebreaks and other small open areas; forest in national parks, nature reserves and other protected areas such as those of specific environmental, scientific, historical, cultural or spiritual interest.
• It includes windbreaks, shelterbelts and corridors of trees with an area of more than 0.5 hectares and width of more than 20 meters.
• It includes abandoned shifting cultivation land with a regeneration of trees that have, or are expected to reach, a canopy cover of at least 10 percent and tree height of at least 5 meters.
• It includes areas with mangroves in tidal zones, regardless of whether this area is classified as land area or not.
• It includes rubberwood, cork oak and Christmas tree plantations.
• It includes areas with bamboo and palms provided that land use, height and canopy cover criteria are met.
• It excludes tree stands in agricultural production systems, such as fruit tree plantations, oil palm plantations, olive orchards and agroforestry systems when crops are grown under tree cover. Note: Some agroforestry systems such as the “Taungya” system where crops are grown only during the first years of the forest rotation should be classified as forest.

Land area is the country area excluding area under inland waters and coastal waters.

• Country area: Area under national sovereignty. It is the sum of land area, inland waters and coastal waters. It excludes the exclusive economic zone.
• Inland waters: Areas corresponding to natural or artificial water courses, serving to drain natural or artificial bodies of water, including lakes, reservoirs, rivers, brooks, streams, ponds, inland canals, dams, and other land-locked waters. The banks constitute limits whether the water is present or not.
• Coastal waters: Waters located in-between the land territory and the outer limit of the territorial sea. They comprise ''Internal waters'' and ''Territorial sea," and where applicable, ''Archipelagic waters."

Percent (%)

Forest area:

Data on Forest area are collected by FAO through the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA). This assessment has been carried out at regular intervals since 1946 and are now produced every five year. The latest of these assessments, FRA 2020, contains information for 236 countries and territories on about 60 variables related to the extent of forests, their conditions, uses and values for several points in time.

Land area:

Data on land area are collected from FAO members through the annual FAO Questionnaire on Land Use, Irrigation and Agricultural Practices. Missing data may be sourced from national statistical yearbooks and other official government data portals. Supplemental information for further gap filling may be derived from national and international sectoral studies and reports, as well as from land cover statistical information compiled by FAO and disseminated in FAOSTAT.

Forest area:

Data on forest area are provided by the countries and reported to FAO through a global network of officially nominated national correspondents. For the countries and territories which do not have a national correspondent, a desk study is prepared by FAO using previously reported information, literature search, remote sensing or their combination.

Land area:

Data are provided by the National Focal Points in National Institutions, typically National Statistical Offices, Ministries of Agriculture or other relevant Agencies. Records of National Focal Points is maintained up to date through the questionnaire cover where countries are requested to confirm the focal point contact detail (e.g. Name, Title, Administration and Office, Email and Web site address) as well as through official communications from countries to FAO, or information provided to FAO during meetings, conferences or commissions.

Assessment of forest area is carried out at infrequent intervals in many countries. Although the improved access to remote sensing data can help some countries to update their forest area estimates more frequently, estimation of forest area using remote sensing techniques has certain challenges. In particular the assessment of forest area relates to land use, while remote sensing primarily assesses land cover. Furthermore, gradual changes, such as forest regrowth, require several years to become detectable in satellite imagery. In addition, forest areas with low canopy cover density (e.g. 10-30%) are still difficult to detect at large scale with affordable remote sensing techniques.

$\frac{Forest\mathrm{\ }area\mathrm{\ }\left(reference\mathrm{\ }year\right)}{Land\mathrm{\ }area\mathrm{\ }\left(reference\mathrm{\ }year\right)}\mathrm{\ }\times 100$

2023-12-15

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

15.2.1: Progress towards sustainable forest management

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