UN FAO, 2010 - Two Sides

Extent of forest resources 39
the FRA 2005 report. This is because many countries have collected new and better
data for FRA 2010, more countries have reported, and more effort has been made to
help countries provide the best possible estimates with the weak data they often have
available.
Table 2.14 shows trends in the relative share of coniferous and broadleaved species
by region and subregion between 1990 and 2010. It is based on data from 110 countries
and areas (representing 71 percent of the total forest area) which reported a complete
time series of growing stock distributed by coniferous and broadleaved species. For
most regions, the changes over time are minimal; however East Asia shows a clear
trend towards a higher proportion of broadleaved species, primarily due to planting
of broadleaved species in China. Europe shows a similar, but less pronounced, trend.
The figures for Oceania exclude both Australia and New Zealand as neither provided
a full time series.
A complete time series of the growing stock of commercial species was reported
by 105 countries and areas, representing 64 percent of total forest area. Table 2.15
shows the proportion of the total growing stock made up of commercial species
and how it changes over time. The slightly increasing global trend is unlikely to be
significant in statistical terms. Most regions show no, or a very small, change. Only
Asia demonstrates a clear declining trend in the proportion of commercial species
in the total growing stock, despite the fact that the total growing stock is increasing
over time in the region. This is primarily due to a decrease in the growing stock of
commercial species reported by China.
A complete time series for growing stock on other wooded land was reported by
111 countries (including those that reported zero). For the remaining countries and
areas, FAO estimated growing stock on other wooded land by taking the subregional
averages of growing stock per hectare and multiplying these by the area of other
wooded land for the respective years.
Table 2.14
Trends in growing stock composition by region and subregion, 1990–2010
region/subregion
coniferous species
(% of total growing stock)
Broadleaved species
(% of total growing stock)
1990 2000 2005 2010 1990 2000 2005 2010
eastern and Southern africa 3.9 3.6 3.4 3.4 96.1 96.4 96.6 96.6
Northern africa 38.5 39.0 39.0 39.3 61.5 61.0 61.0 60.7
Western and Central africa 0 0 0 0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Total Africa 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 99.0 98.9 98.9 98.9
east asia 59.3 55.7 51.6 51.2 40.7 44.3 48.4 48.8
South and Southeast asia 12.8 13.2 13.3 13.5 87.2 86.8 86.7 86.5
Western and Central asia 57.9 58.2 58.0 58.0 42.1 41.8 42.0 42.0
Total Asia 43.7 42.4 40.2 40.1 56.3 57.6 59.8 59.9
europe excl. russian Federation 61.0 60.2 59.1 58.9 39.0 39.8 40.9 41.1
Total Europe 75.2 69.3 69.4 71.4 24.8 30.7 30.6 28.6
Caribbean 8.5 9.4 9.0 9.0 91.5 90.6 91.0 91.0
Central america 12.1 11.5 11.3 10.9 87.9 88.5 88.7 89.1
North america 72.9 69.4 70.1 73.1 27.1 30.6 29.9 26.9
Total north and central America 70.8 67.7 68.5 71.5 29.2 32.3 31.5 28.5
Total Oceania 0 0 0 0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Total south America 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 99.1 99.0 98.9 98.8
world 37.1 36.0 36.7 38.8 62.9 64.0 63.3 61.2