Forest:
The total forest cover of the world constitutes around 31% of the total land area:
Types of Forest:
1. Tropical Rainforests: Year-round temperature and abundant rainfall make this a dense, lush forest. Tropical rainforests are found near the equator. They are vital storehouses of biodiversity on the planet, and yet face severe threat today, with much of their original extent depleted.
2. Sub-tropical Rainforests: These are found to the sound and north of the tropical forests. The trees here are adapted to resist the summer drought.
3. Mediterranean Forests: These forests are found to the south of the temperature regions around the coasts of the Mediterranean, California, Chile, and Western Australia. The growing season is short and almost all trees are evergreen, but mixed hardwood and softwood.
4. Temperate Forests: Found in such places as Eastern North America, Northeastern Asia, and Western and Eastern Europe temperate forests are a mixture of deciduous and coniferous evergreen trees. Usually, the broad-leaved hardwood trees shed leaves annually. There are well-defined seasons with a distinct winter and sufficient rainfall.
5. Coniferous Forests: Coniferous forests inhabit the cold, windy regions around the poles. There are both hardwoods and conifers found in this region. The conifers are evergreen and structurally adapted to withstand the long drought-like conditions of the long winters, whereas the hardwoods are deciduous.
6. Montane Forests: These are also known as cloud forests because they receive most of their precipitation from the mist or fog that comes up from the lowlands. Some of these montane woodlands and grasslands are found in high-elevation tropical, sub-tropical, and temperate zones. Plants and animals in these forests are adapted to withstand the cold, wet conditions and intense sunlight. Trees are mainly conifers.
7. Plantation Forests: There are around 140 million hectares of “Plantation forests” in the world. Accounting for around 7% of global forest cover. The productivity of planted forests, in terms of supplying a sustainable volume of timber and fiber, is usually greater than natural forests. Plantations produce around 40% of industrial wood. Both the plantation area and its contribution to world wood production are projected to continue to increase in the foreseeable future.