Forest area

We previously looked at total forest area across the world. But within this total, there are multiple types of forest: primary forests which have not been disturbed by human activities versus regenerated or planted forests.

This visualization looks at the breakdown of forests by type. The definitions for these categories – as defined by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) – are given below.4

“Naturally regenerated forest of native species, where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities and the ecological processes are not significantly disturbed.”

“Naturally regenerated forest where there are clearly visible indications of human activities.

Includes selectively logged-over areas, areas regenerating following agricultural land use, areas recovering from human-induced fires, etc.”

“Forest predominantly composed of trees established through planting and/or deliberate seeding.”