An interim 1995 assessment was published in State of the World's Forests 1997. This report published new statistics on forest cover state and change for all countries with a reference year of 1995 and a change interval from 1991-1995.

The baseline information set for the assessment was drawn from the FRA 1990 data set with a few updates and had an average reference year of 1983. The definitions employed for forest were the same as for FRA 1990. While FAO contacted all developing countries and requested their latest inventory reports, updated information was only submitted and used for Brazil, Bolivia, Cambodia, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Sierra Leone. The FRA 1990 deforestation model was used for adjusting developing country statistics to a standard reference year (1991 and 1995). No adjustments to standard reference years were made for the industrialized country statistics. Consequently, the industrialized and developing country data were not harmonized in terms of their definitions or reference year. 

Major findings

• Total forest area (global) 1995: 3.4 billion hectares.
• Net forest change (tropical developing countries) 1990-1995: -12.7 million hectares per year.
• Net forest change (global): -11.3 million hectares per year (total forests).