India Climbs To 9th Place On Global Forest Area Rankings, Retains 3rd Spot In Forest Gain; Here’s What It Means

India has made notable progress in global forest conservation, climbing to 9th place in the Global Forest Assessment 2025. The country has also maintained its strong performance in forest growth, holding the 3rd position for forest gain, highlighting ongoing efforts to expand and protect its green cover. Here’s all you need to know about this.

India Rises To 9th Spot On Global Forest Area Rankings

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav took to X (formerly Twitter) to highlight India’s progress in the Global Forest Assessment 2025. The country’s total forest area ranking has risen to ninth place, marking a significant improvement from last year’s 10th position.

Furthermore, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025, India maintains its third position worldwide in terms of annual forest gain. According to the Economic Times, the world’s total forest area stands at 4.14 billion hectares in 2025. That roughly means forest covers 32% of Earth’s land.

One of the interesting highlights of the assessment is that Asia is the only region to show an increase in forest area over the last few decades. From 1990 to 2025, the gains were largely driven by China and India.

Also Read: Not Forests, Gujarat’s Gir Lions Are Choosing Beaches As Their Home; Population Sees 34% Rise In 5 Years

Global Forest Resource Assessment 2025

The Global Forest Resource Assessment (GFRA) 2025 was launched by FAO in Bali. As per the report, about 54% of the world’s forest area is concentrated in five countries–Russia, Brazil, Canada, the USA, and China. Between 2015 and 2025, China recorded the highest annual net gain in forest area at 1.69 million hectares per year, followed by Russia with 9.42 lakh hectares and India with 1.91 lakh hectares.

On the global level, the annual rate of net forest loss has seen significant improvement. The Economic Times reported that from 10.7 million hectares in the 1990s, the annual rate of net forest loss has reached 4.12 million hectares between 2015 and 2025.

Also Read: Earth’s Lungs Are Failing: Amazon Rainforest In Brazil Loses Area As Large As Spain In The Last 40 Years

What are your thoughts on this assessment? Let us know in the comments.

Cover Image Courtesy: Canva Pro/Tom Fisk (representative image)