Forests

The great forest types

Named by climate and latitude — each supports a completely different set of species.

• Tropical rainforest

  Amazon, Congo and Southeast Asia; wet all year and the richest habitat on land.

  ~18M km²

  ≈ 6.95M mi²

• Boreal forest (taiga)

  Russia, Canada and Scandinavia; conifers over frozen ground, the biggest land carbon store.

  ~15M km²

  ≈ 5.79M mi²

• Temperate forest

  Oak, beech and maple across Europe, East Asia and eastern North America, with four clear seasons.

  ~10M km²

  ≈ 3.86M mi²

• Mangroves

  Salt-tolerant trees along tropical coasts that blunt storm surge and nursery reef fish.

  ~147,000 km²

  ≈ 56,757 mi²

• Cloud forest

  Mountain belts between about 1,000 and 2,500 m (8,202 ft), permanently wrapped in mist that the leaves harvest.

Largest national forests

Total forest area by country — five nations hold more than half of the world's forest.

• Russia

  Mostly Siberian taiga, around a fifth of all forest on Earth.

  815M ha

  ≈ 2013.91M acres

• Brazil

  The Amazon basin, plus Atlantic forest and the Pantanal's fringes.

  497M ha

  ≈ 1228.11M acres

• Canada

  Boreal forest stretching from Newfoundland to the Yukon.

  347M ha

  ≈ 857.46M acres

• United States

  Alaskan rainforest, Pacific Northwest conifers and eastern hardwoods.

  310M ha

  ≈ 766.03M acres

• China

  The world's largest reforestation programme has added millions of hectares since 1990.

  220M ha

  ≈ 543.63M acres

Did you know?

• Forests shelter around 80% of amphibian species, 75% of bird species and 68% of mammal species.
• A mature tree can take up roughly 22 kg (48.5 lb) of carbon dioxide a year — a hectare of forest, several tonnes.
• Trees in a forest share water and sugars through fungal networks in the soil, sometimes called the 'wood wide web'.
• The Amazon generates much of its own rain: moisture recycled through its trees can fall again up to five times downwind.

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