The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (FRA 2000) was the most comprehensive and technologically advanced assessment in FAO's 50-year history. FRA 2000 depended on the active participation of partners and member countries around the world. The thematic content was broader than ever before, covering forest area status and change, biological diversity, timber volume and forest biomass, non-wood forest products, trees outside the forest, forest fires and other topical issues. For the first time, comparable trend information on tropical deforestation from two successive assessment periods was obtained through statistical sampling and satellite remote sensing. FRA 2000 was the first assessment to use a homogeneous set of definitions globally. To counteract the increasing flow of often recycled information, FRA 2000 presented the results with full transparency and reference to source data. For further information on the FRA 2000 process please refer to the FRA 2000 Process page.