What percentage of Europe is forest?

Today is the International Day of Forests, which is celebrated every year on 21 March to raise awareness of the importance of forests of all types. In 2020, the EU had an estimated 159 million hectares of forests.

What percentage of Europe is wilderness?

In Europe, according to IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, wilderness protected areas cover between 1.7% and 4% of the continent, but this figure is almost certainly too high.

How much of Europe is deforested?

Europe has lost more than half of its forests in the past 6,000 years. This has primarily been due to agricultural expansion and demand for wood fuel. According to satellite data, the loss of biomass in EU's forests increased by 69% in the period from 2016 to 2018, compared with the period from 2011 to 2015.

Does Europe have forest?

Today forests amount to about 180 million ha making Europe one of the most forest-rich regions in the world with more than 40% of land covered by forests.

How much woodland is Europe?

Forests and wooded land cover over 182 million hectares in the EU. This is about 42% of the EU's total land area. There are 0.36 hectares of forest per capita in the EU. The largest forest areas are in Sweden (30 million hectares), Finland (24 m) and Spain (27 m).

What Science can tell us about Forest Biodiversity in Europe

Why are there no forests in Europe?

Extinctions. Unlike, for example, the North American continent where mountain ranges are oriented in a north-south direction, the east-west running ranges in Europe blocked the retreat of forest species in the face of advancing ice sheets. This barrier led to the extinction of several species in Europe.

Is forest cover increasing in Europe?

The area covered by forests and other wooded land in Europe (39 EEA countries) has increased for many decades. Forest biomass in the EEA region is also growing, and the average growth rate has increased from 1990 to 2010.

What country is the most forested?

Russia – which has the largest forest area – is home to one-fifth of global forest area. Brazil is the only other country with more than 10% of global forest cover.

Do lots of forests still remain in Europe?

Earth Day: New report shows there are still pristine forests in Europe and calls for their mapping and strict protection. About 4.9 million hectares of the EU forests are 'primary' or 'old-growth', according to a new report by the EU's Joint Research Centre.

What is the least wooded country in Europe?

The least forested country in Europe is Malta, with just 5% of forest area, followed by United Kingdom and Ireland (both 12%) and the Netherlands with 13%.

What percentage of France is forest?

Forests now cover 31% of France. In terms of area, it is the fourth most forested country in the EU, after Sweden, Finland and Spain. Since 1990, thanks to better protection as well as to a decline in farming, France's overall wooded or forested areas have increased by nearly 7%. And France is far from being alone.

How much of the UK is forested?

Nowadays, about 13% of Britain's land surface is wooded. The country's supply of timber was severely depleted during the First and Second World Wars, when imports were difficult, and the forested area bottomed out at under 5% of Britain's land surface in 1919.

Which country has the most untouched nature?

Topping the chart is Russia with more than 15 million square kilometres of wilderness, identified as terrestrial or marine regions "free from human pressures, with a contiguous area of more than 10,000 square kilometres". Completing the top five is Canada, Australia, the US (largely Alaska) and Brazil.

What percentage of the world is still wild?

There aren't many corners of the world left untouched by humanity. Recent research has highlighted that just 23% of the planet's land surface (excluding Antarctica) and 13% of the ocean can now be classified as wilderness, representing nearly a 10% decline over the last 20 years.

What percent of the US is wilderness?

“Overall, however, only about 5% of the entire United States—an area slightly larger than the state of California—is protected as wilderness. Because Alaska contains just over half of America's wilderness, only about 2.7% of the contiguous United States—an area about the size of Minnesota—is protected as wilderness.”

What percentage of Germany is forest?

In all, 33% of Germany's land area is forest – that is 11.4 million hectares with over 90 billion trees.

What percentage of Russia is forest?

According to the U.N. FAO, 49.4% or about 809,090,000 ha of Russia is forested, according to FAO.

Where in Europe is forest loss the greatest?

The loss of forest biomass is most pronounced in Sweden, which accounted for 29% of the increase in harvesting, and Finland, for about 22%. Much less affected were Poland, Spain, Latvia, Portugal and Estonia, which jointly accounted for about 30% of the increase in the 26 countries studied.

How many jungles are in Europe?

Rainforests actually grow on every continent in the world except for Antarctica, and in Europe, two primeval forests still exist - Perućica and Białowieża, which stretches across Poland and Belarus. Perućica is an example of a temperate rainforest.

Where are Europe's forests?

France is fourth most forested country in Europe, after Sweden, Finland and Spain. Sweden has strong protections against deforestation and trees cover around 70% of the surface area, similar to Finland, but not all of the forests are natural.

Was Scotland once forested?

Scotland's ancient forest

Woodland expanded and reached a peak around 6,000 years ago. Wildlife flourished in a mosaic of trees, heath, grassland, scrub and bog.

How much of Spain is forest?

According to the U.N. FAO, 36.4% or about 18,173,000 ha of Spain is forested, according to FAO. Spain had 2,680,000 ha of planted forest.

What percentage of Ireland is forest?

The area of forest is estimated to be 770,020 ha, or 11% of the total land area of Ireland (National Forest Inventory 2017). Forest cover is estimated to be at its highest level in over 350 years. Of the total forest area, 391,357 ha or 50.8% is in public ownership, mainly Coillte.