It plays a vital role in maintaining climate stability, carbon storage, and the water cycle. Here are the 15 countries with the largest forest area in the world as of a point in time (time not given) whose forest resources are critical to the health of the global ecosystem:
Russia: The country with the largest forest area, with more than 81 square kilometers of vast forests, covering a wide range of ecosystems from the Arctic tundra to temperate deciduous forests.
Brazil: Brazil, located in South America, and the Amazon rainforest in particular, is one of the most biodiverse forests on the planet, with a total area of about 47.76 million square kilometers.
Canada: The North American country is known for its vast coniferous forests, with more than 3.1 million square kilometers of forests, making it the third largest forest country in the world.
United States: Although parts of the area is occupied by cities and farmland, the United States still has about 30.3 million square kilometers of forests, including redwood forests and broadleaf forests in the east.
China: The forest area is about 197290,000 square kilometers, despite the relatively low forest cover, efforts have been made to increase the green area through afforestation projects.
Australia: Forests are concentrated in the eastern coastal areas, with a total area of about 163680,000 square kilometres, but less forested in the vast inland area, where the environment is predominantly arid and semi-arid.
Democratic Republic of the Congo: The Congo Basin in central Africa is home to one of the largest tropical rainforests in the world, with a forest area of 11720,000 square kilometers.
Indonesia: Southeast Asian countries have large amounts of tropical rainforests, especially on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, with forest areas estimated at between 1 million and 1.5 million square kilometers.
Papua New Guinea: Located in the Pacific Ocean, Papua New Guinea is rich in primary forests with a total area of about 700,000 square kilometers.
India: India's forests cover about 70.86 million hectares, or 21 percent of the country's land area9%* are working to increase forest cover to address environmental challenges.
Argentina: Part of Argentina's forests are located in the southern Andes and Patagonia regions, with a total area of about 5.5 million square kilometers.
Myanmar: Myanmar's tropical rainforests are one of Asia's most important biodiversity hotspots, covering an area of about 5 million square kilometres.
France: The European country of France also has large areas of forest, especially in the east and southeast, with a total area of about 2.9 million square kilometers.
Germany: Germany is one of the countries with the highest forest cover in Europe, with forests covering almost 1 3 territories with a total area of about 1.14 million square kilometers.
Nigeria: Nigeria in West Africa has about 1.1 million square kilometers of forest, but faces sustained deforestation pressure.
These data are subject to change over time and with different statistical methods, reflecting the importance of forest resources in each country and its role in global environmental protection.