Forests Worldwide

Eight thousand years ago, large tracts of ancient forest covered almost half the Earth's land area. Today, only one-fifth of the original forests remain as large areas of ancient forest. The rest have been destroyed, degraded or fragmented by relentless human activity.

In the last 50 years, 20 percent of the world's ancient forests have been cleared. The primary causes of forest loss and degradation vary from region to region. They include agricultural expansion, mining, settlement, shifting agriculture, plantation establishment and infrastructural development.

World map of remaining intact forest landscapes

*This includes both damaged areas and intact forest areas smaller than 500 km2