Figure 19-1. Asia: subregional division used in this report
Asia (see Figure 19-1[34] and Table 19-1) as a whole contains about 548 million ha of forests which corresponds to 14 percent of the world total. Asian forests amount to 0.2 ha per capita, which is low compared to the world average. Most forests are located in the tropical ecological domain and Asia has about 21 percent of all tropical rain forests. Subtropical forests are extensive and Asia has more subtropical mountain forests than any other region and more than one third of the world total. More than 60 percent of the world's forest plantations are located in Asia. The net change of forest area is relatively low, with an annual net loss, based on country reports, estimated at 364 000 ha, corresponding to 0.2 percent annually.
Table 19-1. Asia: 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 |
|
Central Asia |
545 407 |
29 536 |
384 |
29 920 |
5.5 |
0.5 |
208 |
0.7 |
62 |
40 |
East Asia |
992 309 |
146 254 |
55 765 |
202 019 |
20.4 |
0.1 |
1 805 |
0.9 |
62 |
62 |
South Asia |
412 917 |
42 013 |
34 652 |
76 665 |
18.6 |
0.1 |
-98 |
-0.1 |
49 |
77 |
Southeast Asia |
436 022 |
191 942 |
19 972 |
211 914 |
48.6 |
0.4 |
-2 329 |
-1.0 |
64 |
109 |
West Asia |
698 091 |
22 202 |
5 073 |
27 275 |
3.9 |
0.1 |
48 |
0.2 |
101 |
87 |
Total Asia |
3 084 746 |
431 946 |
115 847 |
547 793 |
17.8 |
0.2 |
-364 |
-0.1 |
63 |
82 |
TOTAL WORLD |
13 063 900 |
3 682 722 |
186 733 |
3 869 455 |
29.6 |
0.6 |
-9 391 |
-0.2 |
100 |
109 |