• India has been ranked third among the top 10 countries that have gained in forest areas in the last decade (2010-2020) as per the latest Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• FRA is a comprehensive assessment brought out by FAO after every five years since 1990 to assess the state of forests, their conditions and management for all member countries.

Key points to the report of FRA 2020 :

• Top 10 countries which recorded the maximum average annual net gains in forest area during 2010-2020 are China, Australia, India, Chile, Vietnam, Turkey, the United States, France, Italy and Romania
• India accounts for two percent of total global forest area.
• The Asian continent reported the highest net gain in forest area in 2010-2020, with 1.17 million hectares (ha) per year net increase in forests.
• India reported 0.38 percent annual gain in forest (266,000 ha) of forest increase every year at an average, during the same period.
• The forest area managed by local, tribal and indigenous communities in India increased from zero in 1990 to about 25 million ha in 2015.
• The report also assessed the employment in the forestry sector (including logging) with data from 136 countries (that represent 91 percent of the world’s forests ). India reported the maximum employment in the forestry sector in the world.
• Globally, 12.5 million people were employed in the forestry sector. Out of this, India accounted for 6.23 million, or nearly 50 per cent.