The table presents the millions of hectares of the forested area in different continents in the world from 1990 to 2005.
Overall, what is notable from the chart is that all areas witnessed a downward trend with the exception of Africa and Europe. Among all the lands, Europe held the top spot during the entire surveyed period.
At the beginning of the period, with 989 million hectares, Europe emerged as the leading category. This was followed by South America and Africa, with the corresponding figures being 946 million and 749 million hectares. Far below was Asia, nearly half of Europe’s forest land, about 576,000,000 hectares. At the bottom of the list was Oceania, as its number stood at 199 million hectares.
Over 15 years, Europe increased slightly by 3,000,000 hectares and was still the first-ranking. Subsequently, Asia made a modest rise, about 584 million hectares. In contrast, Africa dropped moderately by about 50 million hectares, which was close to half of the reduced quantity in South America. Additionally, other areas registered a decline marginally, ranging from 2 to 3 million hectares.