Data Table 9.1
Land Area and Use, 1981 93
Sources: Land area and use: Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO), FAOSTAT-PC , on diskette (FAO, Rome,
1995); United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), The World
Factbook 1994 (CIA, Washington, D.C., 1994); population density:
calculated from FAO land area data and population figures
provided by United Nations (U.N.) Population Division,
Interpolated National Populations (The 1994 Revision), on
diskette (U.N., New York, 1994).
Land area and land use data are provided to FAO by national
governments in response to annual questionnaires. FAO also
compiles data from national agricultural censuses. When official
information is lacking, FAO prepares its own estimates or relies
on unofficial data. Several countries use definitions of total
area and land use that differ from those used in this chapter.
Refer to the sources for details.
FAO often adjusts the definitions of land use categories and sometimes substantially revises earlier data. For example, in 1985, FAO began to exclude from the cropland category land used for shifting cultivation but currently lying fallow. Because land use changes can reflect changes in data-reporting procedures along with actual land use changes, apparent trends should be interpreted with caution.
Land use data are periodically revised and may change significantly from year to year. For the most recent land use statistics, see the latest FAO Production Yearbook.
Land area data are for 1993. They exclude major inland water bodies, national claims to the continental shelf, and Exclusive Economic Zones. (See Chapter 11, Biodiversity, Data Table 11.4, Marine Biodiversity.)
The population density and land use figures for the world refer
to the six inhabited continents. Population density was derived
by using the population figures for 1995 published by the United
Nations Population Division and land area data for 1993 from FAO.
Although the population figures were published in 1994, actual
censuses and estimates were made in prior years. For additional
information on population and methodology, see the Technical
Notes to Data Table 8.1, Size and Growth of Population and Labor
Force, 1950 2025, in Chapter 8, Population and Human
Development.
Domesticated land as a percent of land area provides a crude
indicator of the degree to which national landscapes have been
heavily modified through agricultural use. Domesticated land, as
defined here, is a sum of FAO s cropland and permanent
pasture land use categories. This indicator may overestimate or
underestimate the actual degree to which a country s land area
has been modified. Permanent pasture, for example, may include a
significant proportion of rangeland in some countries, while
consisting largely of heavily modified pasturelands in others.
Domesticated land area does not include built-up lands or
plantation forests, the latter constituting a major portion of
heavily modified land area in many countries of the world.
Cropland includes land under temporary and permanent crops,
temporary meadows, market and kitchen gardens, and temporary
fallow. Permanent crops are those that do not need to be
replanted after each harvest, such as cocoa, coffee, fruit,
rubber, and vines. It excludes land used to grow trees for wood
or timber.
Permanent pasture is land used for 5 or more years for forage,
including natural crops and cultivated crops. This category is
difficult for countries to assess because it includes wildland
used for pasture. In addition, few countries regularly report
data on permanent pasture. As a result, the absence of a change
in permanent pasture area (e.g., 0 percent change for many
African and Asian countries) may indicate differences in land
classification and data reporting rather than actual conditions.
Grassland not used for forage is included under other land .
Forest and woodland includes land under natural or planted stands of trees, as well as logged-over areas that will be reforested in the near future. These data are not comparable with forest and other wooded land data presented in Data Table 9.2.
Other land includes uncultivated land, grassland not used for pasture, built-on areas, wetlands, wastelands, and roads.
Data Table 9.2
Forest Resources, 1981 90
Sources: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO), Forest Resources Division, Forest Resources Assessment
1990: Global Synthesis (FAO, Rome, 1995); FAO, Forest Resources
Division, Forest Resources Assessment 1990: Tropical Countries
(FAO, Rome, 1993); United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UN/ECE) and FAO, The Forest Resources of the Temperate Zones.
Volume I: General Forest Resource Information (UN/ECE FAO,
Geneva, 1993).
The FAO and UN/ECE FAO used slightly different definitions in their assessments, each adapting its definitions to the respective forest ecosystem (forests in tropical and temperate developing countries versus forests in temperate developed countries). For this reason, these data are not strictly comparable between temperate developed countries (which include the former Soviet Union but not China) and the remaining countries of the world. FAO defines a natural forest in tropical and temperate developing countries as a forest composed primarily of indigenous (native) tree species. Natural forests include closed forest, where trees cover a high proportion of the ground and where grass does not form a continuous layer on the forest floor (e.g., broadleaved forests, coniferous forests, and bamboo forests), and open forest, which FAO defines as mixed forest/grasslands with at least 10 percent tree cover and a continuous grass layer on the forest floor. Natural forests in tropical and temperate developing countries encompass all stands except plantations and include stands that have been degraded to some degree by agriculture, fire, logging, and other factors. For all regions, trees are distinguished from shrubs on the basis of height. A mature tree has a single well-defined stem and is taller than 7 meters. A mature shrub is usually less than 7 meters tall.
UN/ECE FAO defines a forest as land where tree crowns cover more than 20 percent of the area. Also included are open forest formations; forest roads and firebreaks; small, temporarily cleared areas; young stands expected to achieve at least 20 percent crown cover upon maturity; and windbreaks and shelterbelts exceeding 0.5 hectare in size. Under this definition, forest land in temperate developed countries includes both natural forest and plantation.
Total forest consists of all forest area for temperate developed countries, and the sum of natural forest and plantation area categories for tropical and temperate developing countries.
Plantation refers to forest stands established artificially by
afforestation and reforestation for industrial and nonindustrial
usage. Reforestation does not include regeneration of old tree
crops (through either natural regeneration or forest management),
although some countries may report regeneration as reforestation.
Many trees are also planted for nonindustrial uses, such as
village wood lots. Reforestation data often exclude this
component. The data presented here reflect plantation survival
rate as estimated by FAO. Plantation extent differs from figures
presented in World Resources 1994 95, which did not include an
adjustment for estimated survival rate.
The category other wooded land encompasses forest fallows (closed and open forests) and shrubs in tropical countries. In the temperate zone, other wooded land consists of open woodland and scrub, shrub, and brushland. The category also includes wooded areas used for rangeland, but excludes orchards, wood lots under 0.5 hectare, and tree hedgerows.
Annual change figures in parentheses (negative change) reflect net deforestation, which is defined as the clearing of forest lands for all forms of agricultural uses (shifting cultivation, permanent agriculture and ranching) and for other land uses such as settlements, other infrastructure and mining. In tropical countries, this entails clearing that reduces tree crown cover to less than 10 percent. As defined here, deforestation does not include other alterations, such as selective logging (unless the forest cover is permanently reduced to less than 10 percent), that can substantially affect forests, forest soil, wildlife and its habitat, and the global carbon cycle. Positive annual change figures reflect net afforestation within a country or region.
Annual logging of closed broadleaf forest provides averages of the total area of primary (undisturbed) and thus secondary (previously logged) forest logged each year. Note that many primary forests are essentially old secondary forests.
Data for tropical and temperate developing countries are based on
FAO s 1990 Forest Resources Assessment Project. This project
provided a consistent estimate of developing country forest
extent and rates of forest area change between 1981 and 1990 by
using a model to adjust baseline forest inventory data from each
country to a common year (1990). Existing forest inventory data
on national and subnational scales were carefully reviewed,
adjusted to a common set of classifications and concepts, and
finally combined in a database. FAO used a geographic information
system to integrate statistical and map data for this purpose.
The model used forest area adjustment functions that correlated
the share of forest cover for each subnational unit to population
density and growth, initial forest extent, and ecological zone.
This relation is expressed through the differential equation
dY/dP = b 1 x Y b b 3 x Y , where Y is the percentage of
nonforest area, P is the natural log of (1 + population density),
and b 1 , b 2 , and b 3 are the model parameters. The shape of the
respective adjustment curves differed for each ecological zone;
for example, there was a logistic function for the wet zones and
an inverted j -function for the dry zones.
The reliability of these modeled estimates hinges partly on the quality of the primary data sources feeding into the model. FAO assessed the quality and appropriateness of the national forestry inventories and their contribution to the reliability of the reported state and change assessments. The variation in quality, comprehensiveness, and timeliness of the forest information is tremendous, and acute information deficits in regard to forest resources can easily be highlighted. Whereas good forest resources data are hard to find for Africa, better data are available for Latin America, and the best information obtainable is that for Asia.
Although there were forest cover estimates for two periods for 136 of the 143 developing countries assessed (97 percent), forest data, on average, were almost 10 years old. Refer to the Technical Notes to Chapter 19, Forests and Rangelands, in World Resources 1994 95, for details on forest cover and change data quality for the tropical countries.
Although the forest change model allowed standardization of country data to a common baseline, a number of additional factors may have contributed to discrepancies in forest area and change estimates for specific countries. Potential forest cover estimates for dry forests and the related adjustment function are of unknown reliability; and for some countries, socioeconomic factors may have played a larger role in deforestation for example, livestock projects in Central America and resettlement schemes in Indonesia. FAO acknowledged these shortcomings implicitly and noted that country estimates are not intended to replace the original country information which remain a unique source of reference.
Because of the shortcomings of the FAO methodology, readers are encouraged to refer to those country inventories that use satellite data or extensive ground data for estimates of forest cover and deforestation. Data for several independent country assessments are presented in the Technical Notes to Chapter 19, Forests and Rangelands, in World Resources 1994 95 .
The 1980 forest extent estimates for tropical and temperate developing countries presented in this data table are taken from the 1990 assessment and therefore are not comparable with estimates for that year presented in previous editions of World Resources . Past estimates were taken from two earlier FAO studies on forest extent. FAO s 1980 assessment covered 76 tropical developing countries and used subnational statistical data on population and socioeconomic variables, maps on vegetation and ecofloristic zones, forest survey data, and remote-sensing images to determine forest area. In many cases, FAO adjusted data to fit common definitions and to correspond to the baseline year of 1980. FAO s 1988 Interim Report expanded the country coverage of the 1980 assessment to 53 more developing countries (covering the whole developing world and overseas territories of developed countries), keeping 1980 as the reference year. In that document, FAO evaluated the overall reliability of data on closed forest areas and deforestation rates for the original 76 developing countries. The 1990 assessment incorporated previously unavailable baseline inventory data to improve on 1980 country estimates.
The UN/ECE FAO 1990 survey of temperate zone countries covers all forests in the 32 countries of the ECE region (Europe, North America, and the former Soviet Union), as well as forests in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Data for this study were obtained mainly from official sources in response to a questionnaire, although there are estimates by experts in some countries. Recent ECE and FAO publications, country reports, official articles, and estimates by the professional staff conducting the study are also included. Most data refer to the period around 1990, although data for Belgium are based on 1980 figures, data for Iceland cover 1970 85, and estimates for several other countries are from the mid-to-late 1980s.
Data Table 9.3
Wood Production and Trade, 1981 93
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), FAOSTAT-PC, on diskette (FAO, Rome, April 1995).
Total roundwood production refers to all wood in the rough, whether destined for industrial or fuelwood uses. All wood felled or harvested from forests and trees outside the forest, with or without bark, round, split, roughly squared, or in other forms such as roots and stumps, is included.
Fuel and charcoal production covers all rough wood used for cooking, heating, and power production. Wood intended for charcoal production, pit kilns, and portable ovens is also included.
Industrial roundwood production comprises all roundwood products other than fuelwood and charcoal: sawlogs, veneer logs, sleepers, pitprops, pulpwood, and other industrial products.
Processed wood production includes sawnwood and panels. Sawnwood is wood that has been sawn, planed, or shaped into products such as planks, beams, boards, rafters, or railroad ties. Wood flooring is excluded. Sawnwood generally is thicker than 5 millimeters. Panels include all wood-based panel commodities such as veneer sheets, plywood, particle board, and compressed or noncompressed fiberboard.
Paper production includes newsprint, printing and writing paper, and other paper and paperboard.
Average annual net trade in roundwood is the balance of imports minus exports. Trade in roundwood includes sawlogs and veneer logs, fuelwood, pulpwood, other industrial roundwood, and the roundwood equivalent of trade in charcoal, wood residues, and chips and particles. All trade data refer to both coniferous and nonconiferous wood. Imports are usually on a cost, insurance, and freight basis. Exports are generally on a free-on-board basis.
FAO compiles forest products data from responses to annual
questionnaires sent to national governments. Data from other
sources, such as national statistical yearbooks, are also used.
In some cases, FAO prepares its own estimates. FAO continually
revises its data using new information; the latest figures are
subject to revision.
Statistics on the production of fuelwood and charcoal are lacking
for many countries. FAO uses population data and country-
specific, per capita consumption figures to estimate fuelwood and
charcoal production. Consumption of nonconiferous fuelwood ranges
from a low of 0.0016 cubic meter per capita per year in Jordan to
a high of 0.9783 cubic meter per capita per year in Benin.
Consumption was also estimated for coniferous fuelwood. For both
coniferous and nonconiferous fuelwood, the per capita consumption
estimates were multiplied by the number of people in the country
to determine national totals.