The most basic plantation statistics relevant to wood-flow modelling are the area, and species, planted. At a global level, plantation forests make up only a very small proportion of total forest area. It is estimated that in 19951 the global area of plantation forests totalled 123.7 million hectares, approximately 3.5 percent of global forest area. Note these plantation areas do not cover the extensive agricultural plantations of rubber, oil palm or coconut (see Working Paper FP/6).
Table 1 shows that Asia is the region with the largest proportion of plantation forests. Asian plantations comprise 45 percent of the global plantation forest area. The majority of the world’s plantation forests are, however, concentrated in a relatively small group of countries. Five countries - China, United States, Russian Federation, India and Japan - have each established more than 10 million hectares of plantation forests. These five countries collectively account for 65 percent of the global plantation resource. Additionally, 13 countries have an area of plantation forest exceeding one million hectares. Thus, 18 countries account for 87 percent of the world's plantation forests.
Table 1: Estimated regional distribution of plantation forests in 1995
|
Country or region |
Industrial plantation area (million ha.) |
Non-industrial plantation area (million
ha.) |
Total plantation forest area (million ha.) |
|
|
North America |
18.4 |
0 |
18.4 |
|
|
|
United States |
18.4 |
0 |
18.4 |
|
Central America |
0.5 |
0.3 |
0.8 |
|
|
South America |
5.4 |
2.8 |
8.2 |
|
|
Asia |
41.8 |
15.1 |
56.9 |
|
|
|
China |
17.5 |
3.9 |
21.4 |
|
|
India |
4.1 |
8.3 |
12.4 |
|
|
Japan |
10.7 |
0 |
10.7 |
|
Oceania |
2.7 |
0.01 |
2.7 |
|
|
Africa |
3.6 |
2.2 |
5.7 |
|
|
Europe |
8.7 |
0 |
8.7 |
|
|
Former-USSR |
22.2 |
0 |
22.2 |
|
|
|
Russian Federation |
17.1 |
0 |
17.1 |
|
TOTAL |
103.3 |
20.4 |
123.7 |
|
Sources: Pandey (1997), ECE-FAO (2000).Plantation forests in temperate and boreal countries are estimated to cover 68 million hectares. Softwood species dominate in temperate and boreal plantation forests; they are estimated to cover 61 million hectares or 89 percent of plantation resource. Temperate and boreal hardwood plantations are estimated to cover almost 8 million hectares. Tropical and subtropical forest plantation resources are estimated at 55 million hectares or about 45 percent of the global resource in 1995. Tropical hardwood species are estimated to occupy 31 million hectares, which is about 57 percent of the plantation area. Tropical softwood species cover 24 million hectares. Figure 1 illustrates an approximate global species distribution for plantation forests.
Figure 1: Global distribution of plantation genera and species
Sources: Tropical plantations: Pandey (1997): Temperate and boreal plantations: compilation
