State of the world's forests 1999 South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

These countries contain only 2 percent of the world's forest area but support 22 percent of the Earth's population. The region's forest cover is relatively low (19 percent of total land area), but "trees outside the forest", particularly on agricultural land, are an important source of wood and non-wood forest products, notably in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and parts of India. Over 90 percent of all wood production is used as fuelwood and charcoal, three-quarters of which is consumed in India alone. SAARC accounts for 20 percent of the world production of fuelwood and charcoal. International trade in wood products is limited. India is a major exporter of non-wood forest products, including medicinal plants, essential oils, bidi leaves and lac.

Land area (thousand ha)	412 917
Total forest area, 1995 (thousand ha)	77 137
Percent of land in forest (%)	18.7
Forest area per caput (ha)	0.1
Annual change in forest area, 1990-1995 (thousand ha)	-141
Percent annual change, 1990-1995 (%)	- 0.2

Product	Quantity	% of world total
Fuelwood and charcoal	370 889^a	20
Industrial roundwood	29 038^a	2
Sawnwood	19 453^a	4
Wood panels	494^a	n.s.
Pulp for paper	2 173^b	1
Paper and paperboard	3 559^b	1

Product		Export value			Import value
	Export quantity	thousand US$	% of world total	Import quantity	thousand US$	% of world total
Fuelwood and charcoal	8^a	447	n.s.	72^a	1 582	n.s.
Industrial roundwood	24^a	2 212	n.s.	477^a	69 644	n.s.
Sawnwood	28^a	6 602	n.s.	95^a	16 698	n.s.
Wood panels	20^a	10 185	n.s.	54^a	23 283	n.s.
Pulp for paper	2^b	1 896	n.s.	360^b	167 640	1
Paper and paperboard	7^b	4 839	n.s.	748^b	445 002	1

PART IV - FORESTRY IN REGIONAL ECONOMIC GROUPS

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

MEMBERS

DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST SECTOR

Forest resources

Production of wood-based products (1996)

International forest products trade - quantity and value (1996)