Tropical Forest Resources: Facts and Tables

Abstract

More than 40 % of the world’s 4 billion hectares forests are located in tropical regions and cover 1.73 billion hectares which corresponds to nearly half of the tropical land area. Deforestation – mainly the conversion of tropical forests to agricultural land – shows signs of decreasing in several countries but continues at a high rate in others. Around 8 million hectares of tropical forest were converted to other uses or lost through natural causes each year in the last decade compared to more than 10 million hectares per year in the 1990s. Fifteen tropical countries loose more than 1 % of their forests per year, in five countries forest area is stable, and in nine countries forest area is slightly increasing by a total of 0.3 million hectares per year.

Half of the world’s growing stock is located in tropical forests. In terms of carbon content, they have a share of about 60 %. On average, tropical forests in Africa and Latin America/Caribbean store 100 t carbon per ha, in Asia/Pacific 75 t carbon per ha.

Primary forest, i.e., forest of native species where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities and the ecological processes have not been significantly disturbed, includes the most species-rich, diverse terrestrial ecosystems. In Africa and Asia/Pacific, the share of primary forests on total tropical forest area is 42 %, while in Latin America/Caribbean still 74 % are primary. Overall, the area of primary forests is decreasing in all tropical regions with about 3.7 million hectares per year, but the situation seems to be improving especially in Asia/Pacific, while the rates of conversion show an increasing trend in Latin America/Caribbean.

About 15 % of tropical forests are designated as primary function for the conservation of biodiversity.

National parks, game reserves, wilderness areas, and other legally established protected areas also cover about 15 % of the total tropical forest area. The primary function of these forests may be the conservation of biological diversity, the protection of soil and water resources, or the conservation of cultural heritage.

Half of all tropical countries declare forest fires as severe problem. Severe storms, flooding, and earthquakes have also damaged areas of forests. Nearly all countries in the tropics face at least forest degradation as result of the impact of human interventions in production forests, protected areas and parks. In many tropical countries, the climate appears to be changing. Recent data provide evidence of, for example, increasing temperatures and prolonged dry periods in some regions and increased rainfall and more frequent tropical storms in others.

Half of the tropical forest is designated as permanent forest estate (PFE). Again half of these, about 400 million hectares, serve production purposes. Due to accessibility problems, only parts of the production forests are available for harvest. About 3 % of the permanent forest estate is planted forest. Reported wood removals amount to 1.3 billion cubic meters annually and equivalent to 0.5 % of the total growing stock. By far the most important product is fuelwood, although the statistics on this product are neither complete nor precise. Only few tropical countries are able to report on amount and value of non-timber forest products.

Annex

Annex 1

Table 4 Tropical forest area, change in area

Annex 2

Table 5 Stocks, carbon

Annex 3

Table 6 Biodiversity : primary forest

Annex 4

Table 7 Forest fires/climate change

Annex 5

Table 8 Timber production

Annex 6

Table 9 Management in production forests