State of the World’s Forests 2022

About State of the World’s Forests Report 2022

• Released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
• The report is published bi-annually and is widely regarded as one of the most important stock takes on forest ecosystems.

Highlights of the report

• The 420 million hectares (mha) of forests have been lost between 1990 and 2020, due to deforestation, though forests cover 4.06 billion ha of the earth’s geographical area.
• 15% of 250 emerging infectious diseases have been linked to forests.
• Example: Covid-19, Drug-resistant infections (Antimicrobials), Zika Virus, etc.

The world population is projected to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050, which will increase competition for land, as the demand for food for this large population will rise by 35 to 56% by the 2050s