FAO State of the World’s Forests 2026
Context
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has released its flagship report, State of the World’s Forests 2026: Restoring Forests and Landscapes: The Way Forward for a Sustainable Future.
- The report presents a comprehensive global assessment of land and forest degradation and highlights practical approaches for expanding high-quality Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) initiatives.
Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR)
- FLR refers to a long term process of restoring ecological functions in degraded or deforested forest landscapes while improving human well being.
- FLR goes beyond simply planting trees. It involves the restoration of an entire landscape in a manner that addresses present and future requirements while providing multiple ecological, economic and social benefits over time.
Key Highlights
- The global forest area was estimated at 4.14 billion hectares in 2025, accounting for approximately 32% of the world’s total land area.
- More than 460 million hectares of forests are classified as degraded. Major factors contributing to forest degradation include climate change, population growth, urbanisation and infrastructure expansion.
- Forest degradation is linked to several factors, including forest fires, decline in forest cover, unsustainable harvesting practices, inadequate silvicultural practices, conversion of forest land to other uses, soil erosion and overgrazing.
- Under global commitments such as Target 2 of the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, restoration of 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030 is targeted. To meet this objective, nearly 469 million hectares (Mha) would need to be brought under effective restoration.