Global deforestation slows, but forests remain under pressure, FAO report shows
Figure: Forests cover 4.14 billion hectares – about one-third of the planet’s land area. ©FAO/Vasily Maksimov
FAO News 21/10/2025
Rome/Bali – Deforestation has slowed in all of the world’s regions in the last decade, according to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2025 (FRA 2025) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Released every five years, the 2025 edition of the report was published today during the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) Plenary in Bali, Indonesia.
The latest data show that forests cover 4.14 billion hectares – about one-third of the planet’s land area. In addition to slowing deforestation rates, FRA 2025 highlights further positive news for the world’s forests, which includes more than half of forests now covered by long-term management plans, and one fifth of forests now being within legally established protected areas.
However, the report notes that forest ecosystems worldwide continue to face challenges, with the current rate of deforestation at 10.9 million hectares per year still too high.
Forests are important for food security, local livelihoods and the provision of renewable biomaterials and energy. They are habitat for a large proportion of the world’s biodiversity, help regulate the global carbon and hydrologic cycles, and can reduce the risks and impacts of drought, desertification, soil erosion, landslides and floods.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, writing in the Foreword to FRA 2025, stated: “FRAs are the most comprehensive and transparent global evaluations of forest resources and their condition, management and uses, covering all the thematic elements of sustainable forest management. The data they produce serve multiple purposes, from informing the global community of the status of forests and their changes, to supporting decisions, policies and investments related to forests and the ecosystem services they provide.”
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