Over view of the Asia-Pacific Region

Population and socio-economic status
Land and forests
Deforestation

The Asia Pacific Region, as defined above for this study, is an immense region, covering some 2.8 billion hectares of land area, or approximately 22 percent of the global land area. Stretching from the borders of China-Mongolia with the NIS to the north to the southern tip of Australia and New Zealand to the south, this region covers the spectrum of conditions from northern temperate and boreal through the range of tropical and subtropical zones and back to temperate. From the high plateaus and mountains of Pakistan to the west and extending to the island countries of North Asia and the South Pacific, the Asia Pacific region incorporates conditions of moist tropical to arid and semiarid desert. As would be expected by this geography, the human and social dimensions of the Asia Pacific Region are equally diverse.

Population and socio-economic status

A summary of broad social and economic indicators is given in Table 2.¹ More detailed information for each country is contained in the Statistical Appendix. The largest sub-region in terms of land area is the North Asia region, containing the People's Republic of China with almost 933 million ha. The diverse Oceania-S. Pacific region is the second largest, with over 835 million ha. and dominated by Australia. The smallest sub-region is Continental SE Asia with just over 190 million ha.

¹ Throughout this report, summary tables are provided covering the five sub-regions of the Asia Pacific Region. Whenever possible, detailed companion tables reporting information by country for each sub-region are contained in the Statistical Appendix (Volume II).

Population for the Asia Pacific Region is large and growing. Total Region population was estimated at 3.08 billion in 1990, or over 57 percent of the total global population. According to estimates by the World Bank, the Region's population had grown to almost 3.09 billion by 1994. Annual growth rates exceed 2.0 percent per year in most of the Region's countries (See Appendix Table 2). For the period 1981-90, the Asia Pacific Region grew by about 48 million persons, representing over 56 percent of global population growth.

The population is disproportionately distributed in the Region, resulting in widely differing population densities. South Asia is the most densely populated, with a regional average of some 311 persons per square kilometer. Bangladesh (888.0) and Sri Lanka (266) are the most densely populated within this sub-region. Lowest population density is found in Oceania-S. Pacific at only just over 3 persons per square kilometer.

As measured by Gross National Product, the North Asian region leads substantially, reflecting the dominance of Japan. This is reflected in the GNP per capita of $US 25,840 for 1990 and $US 34,630 for 1994 for Japan, well above the Region averages. Regional GNP per capita was $US 1,195 in 1990 for the Continental SE Asia region, $US 826 for Insular Asia, and only $US 347 for South Asia. Incomplete data prevents a determination of average sub-region per capita income for Oceania-S. Pacific, although Australia and New Zealand are developed countries with per capita incomes well above the sub-region average. With the exception of these two countries, Oceania-S. Pacific would be expected to have an average below $US 2,000.

Incomplete data prevents complete analysis of the rates of economic growth in the Asia Pacific Region. Incomplete information does indicate that growth rates vary widely. The Continental sub-region leads with an average growth in per-capita incomes at 5.6 percent although data is not reported for Cambodia and Myanmar. South Asia growth was 3.2 percent for 1981-90, while Insular SE Asia per capita incomes grew by 2.6 percent. Oceania-S. Pacific growth for reported countries ranged from 2-3 percent with the exception of the Solomon Islands (6.7 percent) and Papua New Guinea (-0.7 percent).

Table 2: Socio-economic data of the Asian Pacific Region

	Population
	Land	Population		Density	Ann Growth	Ann Rate of Growth		GNP	Gross National Product				Average
	Area	Total 1990	Total 1994	1990	1980-90	81-90	85-94	1994	Per Cap ($US)		Annual Growth (%)		Inflation
	000 ha	000 inh	000 inh	inh/km²	000 inh/yr	%	%	$US	1990	1994	81-90	85-94	85-94 (%)
South Asia	412,267	1,129,412	1,198,077	274.0	23,620	2.4		482,241	347		3.2
Continental SE Asia	190,167	176,865	191,483	53.0	3,302	2.1		145,136	1,195		2.6
North Asia	1,147,608	1,329,356	1,392,326	115.8	18,765			5,444,909	31,611
Insular Asia	244,417	263,240	278,691	107.7	4,761	2.0		369,434	826		2.6
Oceania-S. Pacific	835,218	26,507	27,905	3.2	383			na	0
TOTAL - ASIAN PACIFIC REGION	2,829,677	2,925,380	3,088,482	103.4	47,837
Developed, All	5,342,170	1,335,850		25.0	9,860	0.8			13,362		2.8
Developing. All	7,593,697	4,011,731		52.8	74,989	2.1			763		1.8
WORLD	12,935,667	5,347,581		41.3	84,850	1.8			4,063		1.9
ASIAN PACIFIC SHARE OF WORLD	21.9%	54.7%		250.3%	56.4%

Source: FAO, Forest Resources Assessment 1990; World Bank Atlas 1996

Land and forests

Basic information about the forests of the Asia Pacific Region as compiled from the FAO Forest Resources Assessment reports (1990) is summarized by sub-region in Table 3 and Appendix 3 by country.² As shown, the Asia Pacific Region included a total of 820 million ha. of forest and wooded lands, or approximately 16 percent of the global total. North Asia had the largest total, at just over 214 million ha., followed by Oceania-S. Pacific at almost 201 million ha. In North Asia, the region is dominated by the forest and wooded area of China, at 162 million ha. In Oceania-S. Pacific, Australia accounts for the greatest share, at almost 146 million ha. South Asia contains the smallest total of forest and wooded land, at just over 100 million ha., with India the leading country at 82.6 million ha. For the Continental SE Asia sub-region, Myanmar with almost 50 million ha. is the leading country. For Insular Asia, with 181 million ha. of forest and wooded lands, Indonesia is the leading country with 145 million ha. As shown in Table 3, over 565 million ha. in the Asia Pacific region is considered forest. This also represents just over 16 percent of the global total. Forest lands cover an estimated 20 percent of total land area for the Asia Pacific Region as a whole, ranging from a high of 58 percent for Insular SE Asia to a low of only 10.6 percent for Oceania-S. Pacific. Asia Pacific forest cover is below the global average of 27 percent. Because of the significant differences in forest as a percent of land area, and the variance in population densities, the reported forest per capita differs significantly. For the Asia Pacific Region, forest per capita is 0.19 ha./inh., compared to the global average of 0.64. Within the Asia Pacific Region, Oceania-S. Pacific has the highest forest cover per capita, (3.33 ha./inh) in spite of the lower forest cover, due primarily to the much lower population density. South Asia, in contrast, has a per capita forest cover of only 0.07 ha., reflecting the much higher population density together with a forest cover of only 18.9 percent.

² In Table 3, only countries reported as having forest lands in the FAO Resource Assessment (1990) are shown. Other countries included in the definition of the Asia Pacific Region (Table 1) participate in forest products trade or production but do not contain forest lands.

Table 3 also shows the estimated growing stock volumes and the average stocking per hectare. The Asia Pacific Region contains some 61.2 billion cubic meters of growing stock, with an average stocking of 108 cubic meters per ha. This represents just under 16 percent of global growing stock and compares closely to the share of both forest area and combined forest-wooded area. Average global forest stocking is 114 cubic meters per ha., slightly higher than that for the Asia Pacific Region. Growing stock is greatest for the Insular SE Asia sub-region, at 1-76 cubic meters per ha., reflecting the greater forest stocking in Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia.

Table 3: Forest resources of the Asian Pacific Region

	Land Area	Population	Forest &	Forest			Volume		Other
	Total	1990	Wooded	Area	%	Per Capita	Total	Per Ha	Wooded
ASIA PACIFIC REGION/SUB-REGION	(1000 ha)	(1000 inn)	(1,000 ha)				(Mill CUM)	(CUM/Ha)	(1,000 ha)
South Asia	412,267	1,129,412	100,165	77,763	18.9	0.07	3,427	44	22,402
Continental SE Asia	190,167	176,865	123,401	77,484	40.7	0.44	9,133	118	45,917
North Asia	1,147,608	1,329,366	214,149	179,824	15.7	0.14	13,702	76	34,325
Insular SE Asia	244,417	263,240	181,458	141,834	58.0	0.54	24,923	176	39,624
Oceania-S. Pacific	835,218	26,507	200,971	88,254	10.6	3.33	10,056	114	112,717
TOTAL - ASIAN PACIFIC REGION	2,829,677	2,925,380	820,144	565,159	20.0	0.19	61,241	108	254,985
Developed, All	5,342,170	1,335,850	2,063,565	1,432,457	27.0	1.07	163,451	114	631,108
Developing, All	7,593,697	4,011,731	3,056,663	2,009,912	26.0	0.50	220,276	113	1,046,751
WORLD	12,935,867	5,347,581	5,120,227	3,442,369	27.0	0.64	383,727	114	1,677,859
ASIAN PACIFIC SHARE OF WORLD	21.9%	54.7%	16.02%	16.42%			15.96%		15.20%
FAO Forest Resource Assessment 1990

In addition to the forest lands, the Asia Pacific Region contains an estimated 255 million ha. of 'other wooded' lands, with over 112 million ha. of this being in the Oceania-S. Pacific sub-region (primarily Australia). Other countries with significant amounts of other wooded lands include India, Myanmar, China, Indonesia and Viet Nam.

Additional forest information is reported in Table 4, with a slightly different grouping of countries (See Appendix 4 for Country Statistics). This table reflects the differences between developing and developed countries. Japan has been removed from the North Asia sub-region, while Australia and New Zealand are removed from Oceania-S. Pacific. Together, these three countries are grouped as "Developed Asia" in Table 4 and Appendix 4.

In addition to basic statistics on population and total land area, Table 4 includes FAO estimates of 'exploitable' and 'non-exploitable' forest. Also included are statistics showing the degree of change over the 1981-90 period (as annual averages) for the combined forest and other wooded lands, natural forests, and plantations. Of the total forest lands of the Asia Pacific Region 480.7 million ha. are reported as 'exploitable' while some 84.5 million ha. are 'unexploitable'. The largest share of unexploitable forest is found in the Temperate-North Asia sub-region (33.8 million ha. - primarily in China), and the Developed sub-region (28.6 million ha. - mainly in Australia). India and Indonesia both also include important areas that are considered 'unexploitable'.

While the North Temperate developing countries show a net increase in forests over the 1981-90 period, at 881 thousand ha./year, all other sub-regions have shown a decline. Overall, the Asia Pacific Region had experienced a decline of almost 1.2 million ha. per year over this period. The decline in natural forests was at 4.3 million ha./year, offset in part by an increase of 2.7 million ha. in plantations. For the Temperate North Asia region, plantation development was almost entirely in China, where gains were at a rate of 1.1 million ha./year, offset by losses of natural forest at 400,000 ha./year. The other sub-regions experiencing net overall were greatest for Insular Asia and Continental SE Asia. Within the Insular sub-region, losses were largest for Indonesia, at -1.2 million ha./year, offset by a gain of 332 thousand ha./yr. of new plantations. Losses in Malaysia and the Philippines were not significantly moderated by new plantations. For the Continental region, largest losses were in the natural forests of Myanmar and Thailand, at -401 thousand and -515 thousand ha./year respectively. Within the developed Asian countries, reported deforestation was minimal in comparison, primarily reflecting a decline of -4 thousand ha./yr. in Japan within 'other wooded' lands.

Information for the tropical countries in the Asia Pacific region as identified by ITTO is summarized in Table 5 showing the estimated status of management for production forests, as well as the degree to which those productive forests are sustainably managed. For the countries shown, the reported total of natural forests was 311.3 million ha., while the total of productive natural forests is 203, million ha. While the status of management is not reported for India, Indonesia and the Philippines, some 21 million ha. of the natural forest in the other reported countries is considered as sustainably managed with a total of 47.5 million ha. under some form of management. Plantations are estimated at 28.6 million ha. hardwoods with only 12 thousand ha. of softwoods.

Table 4. Status of Forest Lands and Changes 1980-90 (Asia-Pacific)

Summary by Region: Status of Forest Land and Changes 1980-90
Sub-Region	Population 1990	Total Land Area	Forest & Other Wooded Land	Forest				Other	Forest	Population	Annual Change
				Total	% of Land	Exploitable Forest	Un-exploitable Forest	Wooded Land	Per Cap.	Density	Forest & Other Forest Lands	Natural Forests	Plantations
	1 000	1000 ha	1,000 ha	1,000 ha	Area	1,000 ha	1000 ha	1,000 ha	ha.	Inh/km²	1,000 ha	1,000 ha	1,000 ha
Temperate-North Asia	1,205,816	1,111,247	189,431	155,666	14.0	122,365	33,301	33,765	0.13	109	881	-401	1,217
Pacific-Oceania	6,067	54,032	47,886	40,946	75.8	40,796	149	6,941	6.75	11	-45	-131	8
Insular	263,240	244,417	181,458	141,834	58.0	135,425	6,409	39,624	0.54	108	-1,509	-1,926	337
Continental	176,865	190,167	123,400	77,484	40.7	75,239	2,245	45,916	0.44	93	-1,087	-1,314	98
South	1,129,412	412,267	100,164	77,762	18.9	63,931	13,831	22,402	0.07	274	596	-551	1,036
Developed	143,980	817,646	177,803	71,467	8.7	42,894	28,573	106,336	0.50	18	-4	0	0
ASIA-PACIFIC REGION TOTAL	2,925,380	2,829,776	820,142	565,158	20.0%	480,650	84,508	254,984			-1,168	-4,323	2,696
Source: FAO forestry paper 124

Table 5. Tropical Forest Areas for ITTO Producers as of 1992 (1000 ha)

Country		Total Land Area	Natural Forest								Plantations			Total Tropical Forest Area
			Productive					Unproductive	Legally Reserved	Total	Hardwood	rapid growth	Softwood
			Total	Managed	Sust. managed	Unmanaged	Unexploited
Asia-Pacific		703320	203142	47548	20988	37331	6600	108137	11826	311273	28609	254	12	339894
India F		297319	28747					22982		51729	18900			70629
Indonesia F		181157	86393					23156		109549	8750			118299
Malaysia		32855	13368	13368	10494			4482	1500	17850	122	122		17972
	(Peninsular)		2820	2820	2820			1900		4720	51	51		4771
	(Sabah)		3348	3348	2674			1088		4430	64	64		4494
	(Sawawak)		7200	7200	5000			1500	1500	8700	7	7		8707
Myanmar		65797	34319	20474		13845		15439		49758	31		1	49790
PNG		45286	6938	338		6600	6600	25580		32518	37	10	11	32566
Philippines		29817	3123					2032	2032	5155	41			5196
Thailand		51089	16886	0	0	16886	0	9978	6794	26864	606			27470

Source: ITTO 1995b. Annual review and assessment of the world tropical timber situation 1993-4.

F: FAO 1990 Forest Resource Assessment. I: ITTO estimate.

Deforestation

Results of the FAO Forest Resources Assessment (1990) related to deforestation by forest type is summarized in Table 6 and data for selected countries for which this information was reported (tropical countries only) is contained in Appendix 5.³ Total estimated deforestation was 3.9 million ha. annually, or approximately 1.3 percent annually. Deforestation was the greatest for Insular SE Asia, at 1.9 million ha./year, or a rate of 1.4 percent annually. However, the deforestation of 1.3 million ha./year in the Continental SE Asia region was actually at a higher rate, 1.7 percent per year. As widely reported, the deforestation was greatest in the tropical rainforests, where deforestation was 2.16 million ha./year, or at a rate of 1.2 percent. Although the annual amount of deforestation was considerably less for the moist deciduous forest type (656 thousand ha./yr.) this was actually at a higher rate of 1.6 percent per year. Almost 77 percent of the moist deciduous deforestation took place in Continental SE Asia, primarily in Myanmar and Thailand. Deforestation in other forest types is more modest but important. Deforestation of 467 thousand ha./yr. in the dry deciduous forest type in concentrated in India, Thailand, and Cambodia, and represents a rate of 1.1 percent per year overall. Deforestation I the hill and montane forests was estimated at 584 thousand ha./yr., or 1.2 percent annually. Indonesia accounted for 147 thousand ha./yr., followed by Myanmar (65 thousand ha./yr.) and Pakistan (59 thousand ha./yr.). For Pakistan, this represents a rate of 4.1 percent annually, considerably higher than the sub-region or Asia Pacific as a whole.

³ Information was reported for Tropical countries only. The temperate countries of North Asia are thus not included in this summary. Further, only Papua New Guinea was reported among the Oceania-S. Pacific sub-region.

The status of logging for the tropical countries is summarized in Table 7 and reported by country in Appendix 6. North Asia countries are not included in this summary, while Papua New Guinea is the only Oceania-S. Pacific sub-region country included. As shown, approximately 2.15 million ha. were logged annually within the countries reported, including 1.76 million ha. newly entered and 385 thousand ha. of previously logged forest. This represents an annual logging rate of just under 1 percent annually. Average annual logging density was approximately 556 cubic meters/ha. overall for the Asia Pacific Region. Total logging was highly concentrated in Insular SE Asia, where 1.72 million ha./yr. were logged, including over 1.2 million ha. in Indonesia and 455 thousand ha. in Malaysia. About 305 thousand ha./yr. were logged in Continental SE Asia, including almost 200 thousand ha./yr. in Myanmar. Rates of logging were less than 1 percent/yr. in all sub-regions excepting Insular SE Asia, although rates were greater for individual countries, including Bangladesh (2.5 percent), Viet Nam (1.4 percent), Indonesia (1.2 percent) and Malaysia (2.6 percent). Entry into newly logged forests was lowest for South Asia, where only 11 thousand ha. were entered in contrast to 53 thousand ha./yr. of previously logged forest. In Continental Asia most new entry was in Myanmar, where approximately 178 thousand ha./yr. were entered. Over 1 million ha. of new forest was logged in Indonesia annually, while 385 thousand was entered for logging in Malaysia. A comparison of Table 6 (deforestation) and Table 7 (logging) indicates that with the exception of Insular SE Asia the area of deforestation considerably exceeds area logged on an average annual basis for 1980-90. While total estimated deforestation was 3.9 million ha./yr., total reported logging was 2.1 million ha./yr. For Insular SE Asia, deforestation was 1.9 million ha./yr. in comparison to logging of 1.7 million ha./yr.⁴ The ratio of logging to deforestation was .113 for South Asia, .232 for Continental SE Asia, .894 for Insular SE Asia, and .504 for Oceania (Papua New Guinea).

⁴ It should be noted that most logging is selective, removing only a portion of standing timber. Thus reentry into a previously logged forest area removes timber left in previous logging activity. Thus forest is not necessarily cleared or 'deforested' by logging activities.

Table 6: Tropical Forest Countries - Area and Deforestation by Forest Formation.

TROPICAL FOREST COUNTRIES - AREA (1990) AND DEFORESTATION BY FOREST FORMATIONS IN THE ASIAN PACIFIC REGION 1981-90 (1000 ha)
	TOTAL FOREST AREA	TOTAL ANNUAL DEFOREST.	TOTAL AREA	ANNUAL DEFOREST.	TOTAL AREA	ANNUAL DEFOREST.	TOTAL AREA	ANNUAL DEFOREST.	TOTAL AREA	ANNUAL DEFOREST.	TOTAL AREA	ANNUAL DEFOREST.	TOTAL AREA	ANNUAL DEFOREST.
ASIA PACIFIC REGION - Tropical Forests
South Asia	63,931	551	9,850	88	9,155	62	27,119	230	37	2	2,782	29	14,988	140
Continental SE Asia	75,239	1,314	23,719	418	27,193	503	13,500	236	0	0	43	0	10,787	156
North Asia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Insular SE Asia	135,425	1,926	114,479	1,565	4,779	90	73	1	0	0	77	0	16,017	270
Oceania-S. Pacific	36,000	113	29,323	91	705	2	417	1	0	0	184	1	5,370	17
TOTAL- ASIAN PACIFIC REGION	310,595	3,904	177,371	2,162	41,832	657	41,109	468	37	2	3,086	31	47,162	584

FAO Forest Resources Assessment 1990 Tropical Countries.

Table 7. State of Logging 1990 - SE Asian-Pacific Countries-Tropical Forests: State of Logging 1990

	Closed Broadleaf Forests					Total
	Tropical	Ave Logging	Annual Logged Area (1000 ha)			Logged
	Area	Intensity	Newly	Previously	Total	% of Area
ASIA PACIFIC REGION/SUB-REGION	1000 ha	cum/ha	Logged	Logged
ASIA PACIFIC REGION - Tropical Forests
South Asia	31,854	171	11	53	62	0.2
Continental SE Asia	58,530	100	232	73	305	0.5
North Asia	0	0	0	0	0	0
Insular SE Asia	112,040	253	1,467	255	1,722	1.5
Oceania-S. Pacific	31,808	32	53	4	57	0.2
TOTAL - ASIAN PACIFIC REGION	234,232	556	1,763	385	2,146	0.9

FAO Forest Resources Assessment 1990 Tropical Countries

Note: Regional Totals include only those countries for which data is reported

Information regarding the role of plantations in Asia Pacific as reported by Jaako Poyry (ADB, 1995) is summarized in Table 8 for 1990. Plantations totaled some 54.5 million ha., with by far the largest share (31.8 million ha.) located in China. For South Asia, the majority (13.2 million ha.) were in India, while over half of the Continental SE Asia plantations (1.5 million ha.) are in Viet Nam. Indonesia dominates plantations in Insular SE Asia, with over 6.1 million ha. Tropical Oceania has comparatively few plantations, although compared to total forest these smaller plantation holdings are significant as in the case of Fiji with 78 thousand ha. under plantations. Unfortunately, plantations for New Zealand and Australia are not reported in the ADB analysis of Asia Pacific, but these holdings are also important and growing in scope. New Zealand reported almost 1.3 million ha. of exotic plantations as of 1991.

Of the total Asia Pacific plantation resource reported in Table 8, some 42.7 million ha. are considered as non-industrial. This includes much of the plantation area in China (28.7 million ha.) and Indonesia (4.7 million ha.) as well as over half (7.6 million ha.) of the plantation area in India. A total of 5.1 million ha. of fast growing plantations were reported, including 2.1 million in China and 1.2 million ha. in Indonesia. India had some 900 thousand ha. of fast growing plantations, with Vietnam (560 thousand ha.) and Thailand (180 thousand ha.) accounting for the majority of the remaining fast growing plantation area. Other industrial plantations totaled 6.7 million ha., with the largest majority (4.8 million ha.) located in India, and another 1 million ha. in China.

The status of protected areas was also reported in the ADB review as reproduced in Table 9. Protected areas totaled 87.2 million ha. in 1990, with the largest share being located in the Temperate East Asia sub-region (North Asia). Overall, only 4.2 percent of the land area in the countries included in the ADB review were in protected status. The largest individual country protected areas were China with 30.8 million ha. followed by India with 13.2 million ha., Thailand with 6.5 million ha. and Mongolia (6.2 million ha.). By proportion of land in protected status, Bhutan was the highest at 19 percent, Thailand was second at 13 percent, and Sri Lanka third with 12 percent of land protected. Many of the reported countries fell below 1 percent of land area protected, including all countries in Tropical Oceania, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, and Taiwan (China).

Table 8. PLANTATION FORESTS OF ASIA-PACIFIC 1990

	Fast growing	Other industrial	Non-industrial	Total plantations
	- 1 000 ha -
Afghanistan	0	0	8	8
Bangladesh	50	85	100	235
Bhutan	0	4	0	4
India	900	4 770	7 560	13 230
Nepal	10	10	36	56
Pakistan	0	50	118	168
Sri Lanka	30	95	14	139
SOUTH ASIA	990	5 014	7 836	13 840
Cambodia	0	0	7	7
Lao PDR	0	3	1	4
Myanmar	0	155	80	235
Thailand	180	85	264	529
Vietnam	560	0	910	1 470
CONTINENTAL S.E. ASIA	740	243	1 262	2 245
Indonesia	1 150	280	4 695	6 125
Malaysia	80	0	1	81
Philippines	1	5	143	203
Singapore	0	0	0	0
INSULAR S.E. ASIA	1 285	285	4 839	6 409
Fiji	0	64	14	78
Papua New Guinea	0	25	5	30
Solomon Islands	0	16	0	16
Vanuatu	0	1	6	7
Western Samoa	0	6	3	9
TROPICAL OCEANIA	0	112	28	140
China PR	2 120	1 000	28 711	31 831
Taipei China	0	0	10	10
Korea Rep.	0	0	0	0
Mongolia	0	0	0	0
TEMPERATE E. ASIA	2 120	1 000	28 721	31 842
TOTAL ASIA-PACIFIC	5 135	6 654	42 686	54 475

Source: Jaakko Poyry, FAO

Source: Asian Development Bank. 1995.

Table 9. PROTECTED LAND AREA IN ASIA-PACIFIC 1990

	Land area, 1 000 ha	Protected areas, 1 000 ha	Protected1) areas, %
Afghanistan	65 209	183	0.3
Bangladesh	13 017	97	0.7
Bhutan	4 700	906	19
India	297 319	13 160	4
Nepal	13 680	1 109	8
Pakistan	77 088	3 655	5
Sri Lanka	6 463	784	12
SOUTH ASIA	477 476	19 894	4
Cambodia	17 652	0	0
Lao PDR	23 080	0	0
Myanmar	65 797	173	0.3
Thailand	51 089	6 475	13
Vietnam	32 549	897	3
CONTINENTAL S.E. ASIA	190 167	7 545	4
Indonesia	181 157	19 340	11
Malaysia	32 855	1 487	5
Philippines	29 817	5672)	2
Singapore	61	2	3
INSULAR S.E. ASIA	244 417	21 396	9
Fiji	1 827	6	0.3
Papua New Guinea	45 286	6162)	1
Solomon Islands	2 799	0	0
Vanuatu	1 219	0	0
Western Samoa	283	0	0
TROPICAL OCEANIA	51 414	622	1
China PR	932 641	30 770	3
Taipei China	3 600	0	0
Korea Rep.	9 902	757	8
Mongolia	156 650	6 168	4
TEMPERATE E. ASIA	1 102 793	37 695	3
TOTAL ASIA-PACIFIC	2 066 267	87 152	4.2

¹⁾ IUCN World Conservation Institute (WRI)

²⁾ JPC estimate

Source: World Resources Institute (WRI)

Source: Asian Development Bank. 1995.