The total forest area in 2005 was estimated to be around 30% of the planet's land area, just under 40 million km sq. This corresponds to an average of 0.62 ha (6200 m sq.) per capita, though this is unevenly distributed. This estimate was based on data on forest reported by 228 countries and territories (1). The world's forest cover has been classified into three major categories as follows:
- Rainforest
- Temperate forest, and
- Taiga or Boreal forest.
These three kind of forests have shaped the world landscape since the beginning of our Earth located geographically based on the world's climate. Below is the area of those types of forest in the world:
Legend:
A = Rainforest area
B = Temperate forest
C = Taiga forest
As you can clearly see in the picture above, the formation of those types of forest are influenced by the distance of sunlight reaches the Earth's surface. The farther the sunlight capable of reaches the Earth's surfaces, the different formations will occur. Technically, the forest covers in the world focused mainly on the northern hemisphere due to the high volume of land mass availability in contrast to southern hemisphere which dominated by the sea water. Pictures below show how they look-alike:
Rainforest
Temperate forest
Taiga or Boreal forest
Statistically, the largest forest covers type on the world is taiga or boreal forest. It covers a vast area of land mass about a total of 27% and mostly at the northern hemisphere. The smallest forest covers area is temperate forest which is only 5% from the total of land mass. Some very unique about rainforest is despite of its small area that only covers about 6 - 7% from the total land mass, it holds a record for the most bio-diversified region in the world.
Reference(s):
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Yours sincerely:
Zaril Faizal b. Zaral Gaffar
2 December 2011
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