Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With large-scale afforestation and community-led forest protection efforts, India has climbed to the ninth spot globally in total forest area and retained its third rank in annual forest area gain, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said.
In this respect, India follows Australia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia, placing it among the world’s top 10 forest-rich nations, the media reported on Wednesday.
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said this reflects the success of India’s large-scale afforestation and community-led forest protection efforts made under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership since 2014. India’s rise from the 10th to the ninth position marks a “major achievement” in sustainable forest management and ecological conservation.
Growing public participation in tree plantation campaigns, particularly under the Ek Ped Ma Ke Naam initiative, inspired by PM Modi, and large-scale state government drives have contributed to this progress.
“Here is a reason to rejoice for all Indians. We have achieved 9th rank in terms of forest area at the global level as compared to 10th spot in the previous assessment. We have also maintained our 3rd position globally in terms of annual gain. Global Forest Resource Assessment (GFRA) 2025 has been launched by FAO in Bali,” Yadav posted on X.
The FAO report said the world’s total forest area stands at 4.14 billion hectares, covering 32 percent of the planet’s land.
More than half (54 percent) of this is concentrated in just five countries i.e. Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States and China.
China recorded the highest annual net gain in forest area between 2015 and 2025 at 1.69 million hectares per year, followed by the Russian Federation with 9,42,000 hectares and India with 1,91,000 hectares.
Other countries with significant forest expansion include Turkiye (1,18,000 ha), Australia (1,05,000 ha), France (95,900 ha), Indonesia (94,100 ha), South Africa (87,600 ha), Canada (82,500 ha) and Vietnam (72,800 ha).
The assessment showed that Asia is the only region to record an increase in forest area between 1990 and 2025, led by gains in China and India.
Globally, the annual rate of net forest loss has been cut by more than half, from 10.7 million hectares in the 1990s to 4.12 million hectares during 2015-2025.
The FAO said Asia’s forest expansion played a key role in slowing global deforestation, which remains the highest in South America and Africa.
According to the report, 20 percent of the world’s forests are now in legally established protected areas, while 55 percent are managed under long-term plans.