China - the country with the most extensive reforestation

Even though reforestation is a difficult operation, being expensive, difficult to plan and difficult to execute, without taking into account the associated environmental obstacles - weather, pests and natural calamities - some countries have prioritized the replanting of lost forests.

According to the data of the World Bank, taken by www.visualcapitalist.com, China is at the top of the ranking of countries that expanded their forest areas between 2001-2021, the Asian country having an addition of almost 425,000 km² of forest (approximately the size of Sweden). The reforested area in China exceeds the next 19 countries in the ranking, taken together. According to the cited source, China's forests have increased by nearly 25%.

It should be mentioned that this ranking takes into account the growth of forests in square kilometers, rather than the percentage change.

The cited source shows that, in Asia, Vietnam's forests as a percentage of its total land area have doubled since 1990. Since 2001, its forests have grown by nearly 28,000 km², or 23%. Uzbekistan expanded its forested area by 24%, which amounts to approximately 7,000 km².

Chile and Uruguay are the only two countries in South America that have managed to expand their forest cover in the last two decades. In Uruguay, the increase is 46%. On the other hand, the rest of South America is facing significant deforestation, the cited source mentions. According to her, 958,000 km² of forest were lost worldwide between 2001 and 2021.

The cited source recalls that reforestation also comes with risks: the introduction of non-indigenous species of trees or monoculture can reduce biodiversity, respectively it can lead to soil erosion.

Despite global reforestation efforts, the world has lost almost a million square kilometers of forests since 2001, concludes the cited source.