Indicators of Forest Designation

Production Forests

Last Updated on September 6, 2024

The Production Forests Indicator aims to monitor the extent and location of natural forests, seminatural forests, and tree plantations designated primarily for the production of forest products such as timber, pulp, and fuelwood. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) collates national and global statistics every five years on the extent of production forests, but maps showing the specific locations of these forests are not available with consistent global coverage. This indicator reviews several spatial data sets offering partial coverage of this topic.

In this section, we will explore the following questions:

How much production forest exists globally?
Where are the world’s production forests?
Where are the world’s planted trees?
Limitations and Future Prospects

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How much production forest exists globally?

An estimated 1.15 billion hectares (Bha) of forest are designated primarily for production, equivalent to roughly 30 percent of global forest area. This 2020 estimate reflects a slight decrease of about 50 Mha since 2015. Although most production forests are natural forests, planted forests increased in area by 75 percent (from 167 to 290 Mha) between 1990 and 2020 and are expected to play a growing role in meeting rising global demand for wood products. As of 2020, planted forests account for 7 percent of global forest area (up from 4 percent in 1990). These estimates are published by the FAO and based on national-scale statistical data rather than geospatial data.

Where are the world’s production forests?

No publicly available and globally comprehensive map of production forests currently exists. The available map approximates the location of production forests based on a model that identifies areas in which large-scale forestry operations are the dominant cause of tree cover loss . Production forests appear extensively in the temperate and boreal forests of North America, Europe, Russia, China, southern Brazil, Chile, South Africa, and Australia. The model largely fails to identify production forests known to exist in the tropics for reasons described below.

Current Models of Production Forests

Forest areas in which large-scale wood harvesting operations are the dominant cause of tree cover loss

Production forests

The model used to create this map analyzes 30-by-30-meter (m) pixel tree cover change data and other data inputs to identify the dominant driver of tree cover loss within a 10-by-10-kilometer (km) grid cell. Cyclical patterns of tree cover loss and gain in the same grid cell are considered a likely indicator of forestry activities, in which wood harvesting is followed by forest regeneration and/or tree planting. Due to the spatial resolution of the model and underlying tree cover change data, the map is most likely to capture tree cover in which industrial roundwood is being harvested at large scales, whether through rotational harvesting of plantations, stand-level clear-cuts of natural or seminatural forests, or mechanized selective logging. Nonindustrial or highly selective forms of harvesting are less likely to be visible within 30-meter resolution Landsat satellite imagery and are therefore less likely to be reflected in the model results. Nonindustrial and selective harvesting can include collecting fuelwood for subsistence purposes, some forms of thinning to reduce fire risk, and highly selective felling of individual trees (e.g., canoe trees) where the surrounding forest is left intact.

Locations of logging concessions in nine countries<footnotes data-text="Logging concession data compiled and published by GFW."></footnotes>

Where are the world’s planted trees?

Planted trees, which include both planted forests and tree crops, are typically not considered to be “natural forests” due to their limited species composition and row-like spacing, but they play a critical role in meeting global demand for wood products. A 2024 study aggregated maps of planted trees from a variety of sources and time periods. The maps capture 264 Mha, roughly 90 percent, of planted forests worldwide. Just three countries — China, Russia and the United States — account for half of all planted tree areas globally. These three countries, along with Canada, India and Brazil, comprise the world’s top six producers of industrial roundwood. Canada and India also hold a significant portion of planted forest but are likely underrepresented in the map.

The 2024 study also shows that tree crops cover 64 Mha globally and are most prevalent in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

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Limitations and Future Prospects

Comprehensive and complete data showing the location of production forests worldwide are currently lacking. Without such data, it is difficult to systematically assess the extent to which such forests are being managed sustainably and the changing condition and capacity of these forests to provide essential wood products.

Mapping forest areas in which large-scale forestry operations have been classified by a model as the dominant cause of tree cover loss provides one way to approximate the location of production forests. However, this approach likely misses forests in which selective logging is the main form of wood harvesting due to the relatively coarse resolution of the model (10-by-10 km) and underlying satellite data (30-by-30 m). Efforts to use higher-resolution satellite imagery to detect tree cover change and refine driver classification models—both of which are currently under way—may allow for better approximation of production forest locations in the near future.

Public disclosure of logging concession data in countries where most production forests are publicly owned and boundary data for privately held production forests could also help fill this data gap. Forest managers and national and subnational forest agencies often hold a wealth of geospatial data on production forests, including boundaries, growing stock, species distribution, and harvest volumes, but these data tend to be highly tailored to the local context and are often not open to the public. Even if such data were to become publicly available, collecting and consolidating disparate data sets into a consistent and regularly updated global map remains a significant challenge.

Many Forest Products Are Not Captured in Official Statistics

Forests provide a wealth of timber and nontimber forest products to rural communities, most of which are not reflected in official statistics on forest production and are impossible to map at scale. As such, the forests that provide these benefits to local communities are unlikely to be captured in the maps of production forests featured in this indicator. Forest fuelwood, for example, makes up roughly half of global wood removals and 40 percent of global renewable energy—as much as solar, hydroelectric, and wind power combined. As forest degradation and deforestation spread, communities have to walk longer and farther to obtain wood for heating homes and cooking food. Other important nontimber forest products include fruits and nuts, vegetables, fish and game, medicinal plants, resins, and natural fibers such as rattan.

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Dark surfaces absorb the rays from the sun (low albedo).\r\n"},"94":{"name":"biodiversity intactness","description":"The proportion and abundance of a location\u0027s original forest community (number of species and individuals) that remain.\u0026nbsp;\r\n"},"95":{"name":"biodiversity significance","description":"The importance of an area for the persistence of forest-dependent species based on range rarity.\r\n"},"142":{"name":"boundary plantings","description":"Trees planted along boundaries or property lines to mark them well.\r\n"},"98":{"name":"carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)","description":"Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) is a measure used to aggregate emissions from various greenhouse gases (GHGs) on the basis of their 100-year global warming potentials by equating non-CO2 GHGs to the equivalent amount of CO2.\r\n"},"153":{"name":"climate domain","description":"Major ecosystem regions, summarized as boreal, temperate, tropical and subtropical.\u0026nbsp;"},"99":{"name":"CO2e","description":"Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) is a measure used to aggregate emissions from various greenhouse gases (GHGs) on the basis of their 100-year global warming potentials by equating non-CO2 GHGs to the equivalent amount of CO2.\r\n"},"1":{"name":"deforestation","description":"The change from forest to another land cover or land use, such as forest to plantation or forest to urban area.\r\n"},"77":{"name":"deforested","description":"The change from forest to another land cover or land use, such as forest to plantation or forest to urban area.\r\n"},"76":{"name":"degradation","description":"The reduction in a forest\u2019s ability to perform ecosystem services, such as carbon storage and water regulation, due to natural and anthropogenic changes.\r\n"},"75":{"name":"degraded","description":"The reduction in a forest\u2019s ability to perform ecosystem services, such as carbon storage and water regulation, due to natural and anthropogenic changes.\r\n"},"79":{"name":"disturbances","description":"A discrete event that changes the structure of a forest ecosystem.\r\n"},"68":{"name":"disturbed","description":"A discrete event that changes the structure of a forest ecosystem.\r\n"},"65":{"name":"driver of tree cover loss","description":"The cause of tree cover loss, such as agriculture or urban development. 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Natural forests can be managed or unmanaged (see separate definitions). \r\n"},"63":{"name":"natural forests","description":"A forest that that grows with limited or no human intervention. Natural forests can be managed or unmanaged (see separate definitions).\u0026nbsp;"},"144":{"name":"open canopy systems","description":"Individual tree crowns that do not overlap to form a continuous canopy layer.\r\n"},"88":{"name":"planted","description":"Stands of trees established through planting, including both planted forest and tree crops."},"14":{"name":"planted forest","description":"Planted trees \u2014 other than tree crops \u2014 grown for wood and wood fiber production or for ecosystem protection against wind and\/or soil erosion.\r\n"},"73":{"name":"planted forests","description":"Planted trees \u2014 other than tree crops \u2014 grown for wood and wood fiber production or for ecosystem protection against wind and\/or soil erosion."},"148":{"name":"planted trees","description":"Stands of trees established through planting, including both planted forest and tree crops."},"149":{"name":"Planted trees","description":"Stands of trees established through planting, including both planted forest and tree crops."},"15":{"name":"primary forest","description":"Old-growth forests that are typically high in carbon stock and rich in biodiversity. 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Landscapes may be forested or non-forested."},"87":{"name":"seminatural","description":"Forest with predominantly native trees that have not been planted. Trees are established through silvicultural practices, including natural regeneration or selective thinning.FAO"},"59":{"name":"seminatural forests","description":"Forest with predominantly native trees that have not been planted. Trees are established through silvicultural practices, including natural regeneration or selective thinning.FAO"},"96":{"name":"shifting agriculture","description":"Agricultural practices where forests are cleared, used for agricultural production for a few years, and then temporarily abandoned to allow trees to regrow and soil to recover.\u0026nbsp;"},"103":{"name":"surface roughness","description":"Surface roughness of forests creates\u0026nbsp;turbulence that slows near-surface winds and cools the land as it lifts heat from low-albedo leaves and moisture from evapotranspiration high into the atmosphere and slows otherwise-drying winds. \r\n"},"17":{"name":"tree cover","description":"All vegetation greater than five meters in height and may take the form of natural forests or plantations across a range of canopy densities. Unless otherwise specified, the GFR uses greater than 30 percent tree canopy density for calculations.\r\n"},"71":{"name":"tree cover canopy density is low","description":"The percent of ground area covered by the leafy tops of trees. tree cover: All vegetation greater than five meters in height and may take the form of natural forests or plantations across a range of canopy densities. Unless otherwise specified, the GFR uses greater than 30 percent tree canopy density for calculations.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;"},"60":{"name":"tree cover gain","description":"The establishment of tree canopy in an area that previously had no tree cover. 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As such, loss does not equate to deforestation.\r\n"},"163":{"name":"tree cover loss due to fire","description":"The mortality of tree cover where forest fires were the direct cause of loss.\u0026nbsp;"},"164":{"name":"tree cover loss due to fires","description":"The mortality of tree cover where forest fires were the direct cause of loss.\u0026nbsp;"},"162":{"name":"tree cover loss from fires","description":"The mortality of tree cover where forest fires were the direct cause of loss.\u0026nbsp;"},"150":{"name":"tree crops","description":"Stand of perennial trees that produce agricultural products, such as rubber, oil palm, coffee, coconut, cocoa and orchards."},"85":{"name":"trees outside forests","description":"Trees found in urban areas, alongside roads, or within agricultural land\u0026nbsp;are often referred to as Trees Outside Forests (TOF).\u202f\r\n"},"151":{"name":"unmanaged","description":"A forest that grows without human intervention and has no signs of management, including primary forest.Lesiv et al. 2022, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41597-022-01332-3"},"105":{"name":"unmanaged natural forests","description":"A forest that grows without human intervention and has no signs of management, including primary forest.Lesiv et al. 2022, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41597-022-01332-3"},"158":{"name":"tree cover loss from fire","description":"The mortality of tree cover where forest fires were the direct cause of loss.\u0026nbsp;"}}}

Citation

“Production Forests Indicator.” Global Forest Review, updated September 6, 2024. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute. Available online at https://research.wri.org/gfr/forest-designation-indicators/production-forests.

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