Global Forest Resources Assessments

GLOBAL FOREST RESOURCES ASSESSMENT (FRA) 2020


FRA 2020 reporting started at a global technical meeting of FRA National Correspondents from more than 100 countries and territories, held on 5-9 March 2018 in Toluca, Mexico. A new innovative online platform has been developed to make reporting both easier and more transparent and FRA National Correspondents were trained at the Toluca technical meeting in how to use the platform. The meeting has been organized in collaboration with the Comisión Nacional Forestal (CONAFOR) of Mexico with financial support from the European Union and Finland.
The proceedings of the meeting are now available here.

Why do we need FRA?

FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) provides essential information for understanding the extent of forest resources, their condition, management and uses.

Forests are more than trees and fundamental for food security and improved livelihoods. They contribute to resilience of communities by regulating water flows, providing food, wood energy, shelter, fodder and fibre, generate income and employment as well as harbor biodiversity. Furthermore, forests support sustainable agriculture and human well-being by stabilizing soils and climate.

FRA 2020 Terms and Definitions

This document contains a comprehensive list of terms and definitions as well as explanatory notes for FRA 2020 reporting variables.  

FRA 2020 Guidelines and Specifications

This document provide information about the country reporting process, including an introduction to the new FRA 2020 on-line reporting platform.  

How does FRA work?

The FRA data is collected through a global network of officially nominated National Correspondents. Combining this knowledge with data from remote sensing and other sources allows FAO to provide information which can be used to draw recommendations for governments, civil society and the private sector. FRA is also central part in monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal 15 – Life on Land - as it collects information and reports for indicators of targets 15.1 and 15.2.

FRA covers all countries and territories and contains a wealth of information structured according to seven thematic elements of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM). With the grand and detailed data collected and made available by the countries and analyzed by FRA, we know the world’s forests resources and how they are changing.

FRA 2015 Results

Synthesis document: “How are the World’s Forests Changing?”

This publication contains a summary of key findings of how forests, forest management and uses have changed over the past 25 years.

E-book version also available.

Special Issue Forest Ecology and Management

A Special Issue of the Journal Forest Ecology and Management, contains thirteen peer-reviewed papers with more detailed analyzes both based on FRA 2015 data and other data sources.

Download PDF 

Desk Reference

This publication contains summary tables for most of the quantitative and boolean variables collected through FRA 2015. 

Download FRA 2015 results. 

Country Reports

The country reports contain documentation of references and original data used for reporting to FRA 2015.