India added 2,66,000 hectares of forest area annually from 2010 to 2020, securing the third position among the top 10 countries that experienced the largest forest area gains during this period, as per a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The report, published on Monday, indicated that China led globally with the highest forest area gain of 1,937,000 hectares, followed by Australia with 4,46,000 hectares and then India. Other countries in the top 10 include Chile, Vietnam, Turkey, the United States, France, Italy, and Romania.
The UN agency commended India for its efforts to rehabilitate degraded lands and expand agroforestry through innovative methods. This includes formulating a new national policy to better support agroforestry in the country.
The report pointed out a significant decrease in deforestation in certain countries. For instance, Indonesia experienced an 8.4 per cent drop in deforestation from 2021 to 2022, whereas Brazil's Amazon region saw a 50 per cent decrease in deforestation in 2023.
According to the FAO report, the rate of overall global mangrove loss decreased by 23 per cent during the periods from 2000 to 2010 and from 2010 to 2020.
Nonetheless, the FAO emphasized that climate change is heightening forests' susceptibility to various pressures, such as wildfires and pests.
"Wildfire intensity and frequency are rising. Boreal forests accounted for nearly one-quarter of carbon dioxide emissions due to wildfires in 2021. In 2023, wildfires emitted an estimated 6,687 megatonnes of carbon dioxide globally, more than double the carbon dioxide emissions from the European Union due to fossil fuel burning that year," the report read.
According to the report, 25 million hectares of forestlands in the United States are projected to experience losses exceeding 20 per cent of host tree basal area due to insects and disease by 2027.
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