About FRA terms and definitions
Land use
Forest
Forest
The FAO definition of a forest is, “Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use.”
The definition excludes tree stands in agricultural production systems, such as fruit tree plantations, oil palm plantations, olive orchards, and agroforestry systems when crops are grown under tree cover.# ISO certification in India
Other wooded land
The FAO definition of other wooded land is, “Land not classified as ‘Forest’, spanning more than 0.5 hectares; with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of 5-10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ; or with a combined cover of shrubs, bushes and trees above 10 percent. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use.”# ISO certification in India
Other land
The FAO definition of other land is, “All land that is not classified as ‘Forest’ or ‘Other wooded land’.”
For the purpose of reporting to FRA, the “Other land” is calculated by subtracting the area of forest and other wooded land from the total land area (as maintained by FAOSTAT). Includes agricultural land, meadows and pastures, built-up areas, barren land, land under permanent ice, etc.# ISO certification in India
Forest area changes
Deforestation
Deforestation
The FAO definition of deforestation is, “The conversion of forest to other land use independent of whether it is human-induced or not.”
It includes permanent reduction of the tree canopy cover below the minimum 10 percent threshold. It includes areas of forest converted to agriculture, pasture, water reservoirs, mining and urban areas. The term specifically excludes areas where the trees have been removed as a result of harvesting or logging, and where the forest is expected to regenerate naturally or with the aid of silvicultural measures. The term also includes areas where, for example, the impact of disturbance, over-utilization or changing environment.# ISO certification in India
Forest expansion
The FAO definition of forest expansion is, “Expansion of forest on land that, until then, was under a different land use, implies a transformation of land use from non-forest to forest.”# ISO certification in India
Forest net area change
The FAO definition of forest area net change is, “the difference in forest area between two FRA reference years. The net change can be either positive (gain), negative (loss) or zero (no change).”# ISO certification in India
FRA data
FRA 2020 included data from 236 countries and territories. Of the 236 countries and territories, 189 self-reported their own forestry data through the online FRA Platform. The FRA team conducted desk studies for the remaining 47 countries. The 47 countries represented 0.5 percent of the total forest area.
FRA data is grouped according to regions and subregions. The regional groupings of FRA data are: North and Central America (North America, Central America, Caribbean), South America, Europe, Africa (Northern Africa, Western and Central Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa), Asia (Western and Central Asia, South and Southeast Asia, East Asia), and Oceania.# ISO certification in India
Reporting content
The latest FRA collected data on over 60 broad variable categories including:
Forest extent and changes
Bamboo
Rubber plantation, Kerala, India
Forest characteristics
- Naturally regenerating forest
- Planted forest
- Plantation forest and other planted forest
- Plantations of introduced species
- Primary forest
- Mangroves
- Bamboo
- Rubber plantations
Growing stock biomass and carbon
- Growing stock
- Growing-stock composition
- Biomass stock
- Carbon stock
Designation and management
- Production
- Multiple use
- Protection of soil and water
- Conservation of biodiversity
- Social services
- Other management objectives
- Forest in protected areas
- Forest area with long-term management plans
Ownership and management rights
- Forest ownership
- Private ownership, by type of owner
- Holders of management rights in publicly owned forests
Post forest fire
Disturbances
- Insects
- Diseases
- Severe weather events
- Fire
Policies and legislation
Employment and education
Non-wood forest products removals and values
Desk studies
When countries do not nominate national correspondents to prepare country reports, FAO experts write their own reports based on estimated values and statistics and then publish them as desk studies. To collect data for a desk study, FAO experts rely on previously published country reports as well as on other recently published reports and spatial datasets. In some cases, complementary remote sensing-based analysis is implemented as an additional data source. # ISO certification in India