Forest area in Europe currently amounts to 227 million ha and accounts for 35% of the total land area. The degree of forest cover varies among countries in Europe. While the most extensive forest cover (54%) is found in Northern Europe, South-East Europe is the least forested region in Europe (32%) (State of Europe’s Forests 2020).
France is the fourth country after Sweden (28.0 Mha), Finland (22.4 Mha) and Spain (18.6 Mha) in terms of forest area. (Global Forest Resources Assessment, FAO, 2020).
Forested area has constantly expanded since the second half of the XIXth century. In 1830, the wooded area in France was estimated between 8.9 and 9.5 million of hectares (Cinotti, 1996). Since 1985, the annual expansion recorded by the NFI is up to 80 000 hectares. The French forested area reaches 17.1 millions of hectares (covering 31% of the territory) in 2021 [1].
This important expansion was mainly due to:
– the rural exodus
– the post-war agricultural revolution
– the land afforestation by the Fonds forestier national (FFN): 2 millions of hectares of trees planted between 1947 and 1999
– and the continuation of the mountain reafforestation effort.
Since the past 10 years, this increase in forest area has been going on.
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| Figure 3: Afforestation rate in 1908. | |
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| Figure 4: Afforestation rate in 2021. |
| Quantity | Estimate (1,000 ha) | Share of total land area | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production forest | 16,112 | ± 114 | 29% | Forest available for wood supply |
| Other forests | 964 | ± 56 | 2% | Forest non available for wood supply (protection status, military area, inaccessibility) |
| Forest land | 17,076 | ± 108 | 31% | Area >0.5 ha, min 20m wide, min. crown cover of 10%, min. height of trees 5m maturity in situ |
| Other land | 37,867 | ± 153 | 69% | All land that is not classified as forest land |
| Total land area | 54,944 | ± 15 | 100% | |
