Previous Page Table of Contents Next Page


Chapter 37. Oceania

Figure 37-1. Oceania: Subregional division used in this report

Oceania (see Figure 37-1[50] and Table 37-1) as a whole contains less than 200 million hectares of forests corresponding to 5 percent of the world total. Oceania's forests amount to 6.6 ha per capita, which is the highest at world level. Almost all forests are located in the tropical ecological domain. The dry forest types in Australia dominate the region's forest area. Forest plantation areas are located mainly in Australia and New Zealand and represent 1.4 percent of the total forest area. The annual net loss, based on country reports, is estimated at 365 000 ha, corresponding to 0.2 percent annually.

Table 37-1. Oceania: forest resources by subregion

Subregion

Land area

Forest area 2000

Area change 1990-2000 (total forest)

Volume and above-ground biomass (total forest)

Natural forest

Forest plantation

Total forest

000 ha

000 ha

000 ha

000 ha

%

ha/ capita

000 ha/ year

%

M3 /ha

t/ha

Australia and New Zealand

795 029

159 547

2 938

162 485

20.4

7.2

-243

-0.1

58

65

Other Oceania

54 067

34 875

263

35 138

65.0

4.7

-122

-0.3

34

58

Total Oceania

849 096

194 775

2 848

197 623

23.3

6.6

-365

-0.2

55

64

TOTAL WORLD

13 063 900

3 682 722

186 733

3 869 455

29.6

0.6

-9 391

-0.2

100

109

Source: Appendix 3, Tables 3, 4, 6 and 7.


[50] The division into subregions was made only to facilitate the reporting at a condensed geographical level and does not reflect any opinion or political consideration in the selection of countries. The graphical presentation of country areas does not convey any opinion of FAO as to the extent of countries or status of any national boundaries.

Previous Page Top of Page Next Page