forest cover

Forest cover answers one question - how much land is forest - but three cataloged programs answer it at different grains. FAO's Global Forest Resources Assessment platform leads nine themes with forest extent across 236 countries and areas, publishing national benchmark values for 1990, 2000, 2010, 2015, 2020 and 2025 under commercial delivery terms 4.0 with CSV downloads, bulk export and a JSON API; it is explicitly not gridded and not subnational. India's State of Forest Report assesses forest cover, tree cover, mangrove cover, growing stock and carbon stock every two years for the nation and each state, with editions from 1991 through ISFR 2023; forest cover maps are provided on request rather than downloaded. British Columbia's catalogue goes the other direction, holding individual polygon features - cutblocks, tenure parcels, forest cover stands - among roughly 3,300 provincial datasets, about 580 matching a 'forest' search.

Extent definitions are jurisdiction-specific, and treating them as one number produces false trends.

• National benchmarks hide subnational shifts. FRA publishes country-level annual-benchmark values only; deforestation concentrated in one region never shows up there.
• Assessment cadence differs. FRA reports at six benchmark years; ISFR every two years since 1991 - interpolating between either is assumption, not measurement.
• Definition boundaries matter. Tree cover and mangrove cover are assessed separately in India, and BC's polygons distinguish cutblocks and cover stands - quote the definition with the number.

1. Match the grain to the question. Country benchmarks (FAO FRA, 236 countries), state-level assessments (India ISFR), or stand polygons (British Columbia) - pick one, don't blend.

1. Check whether geometry ships with the statistics. FRA is explicitly not gridded; ISFR provides cover maps only on request; BC delivers polygon features directly through its CKAN catalogue.

1. Mind the license conditions before republishing. FAO FRA is commercial delivery terms 4.0 with citation and disclaimer requirements; BC runs Open Government Licence - British Columbia with attribution; ISFR states no explicit licence.

1. Watch for access-gated layers. Some BC records are labelled Access Only, requiring registration or data-sharing arrangements instead of instant download.

Entries that sit next to forest cover in this glossary:

• growing-stock