A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.
There is a long tradition in the emotional relationship between people and forests. We can get an understanding of the extent of the global tree cover from satellite sensors such as NASA’s MODIS Calculating the average tree cover in an area allows us to estimate the extent of the world’s forests. This visualisation of the global tree cover shows the quantitative distribution of the world’s forests.
The visualisation is an image of the fragile forest-landscapes which make up approximately 31 per cent of our land area. They are the world’s lungs, providing home for a multitude of the most complex and diverse ecosystems on the planet. However, they are also the basis for the livelihoods of many people, and an important economic factor, and are therefore under threat of deforestation – especially in the tropics – which make up a lot of the spaces in this map.
