December 5, 2025 | 07:16 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - While it’s commonly known that approximately 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, the existence of forests is just as equally important.
Ranging from being the natural habitat of countless biodiversity to protecting ecosystems and regulating the Earth’s climate, and yet people have failed to protect forests even after so many benefits given to humankind.
If we were to pinpoint the number one factor of it, it would be deforestation. According to Geographical, deforestation has resulted in the loss of roughly 489 million hectares of forest since 1990.
However, some forests are also attributing their issues to logging, agriculture, and mining, which emphasize the dilemma between economic growth and conservation.
Leading the pack, Russia is home to some of the largest forests in the world where it contributes around 20% of the world’s forests.
Though its forests are only made up of a couple of tree species, including birch, pine, spruce, and fir, species like Siberian tigers and leopards are heavily relying on its existence to survive.
Brazil follows closely with 11.7% of Earth’s forests. As Visual Capitalist highlights, Brazil’s Amazon rainforest holds approximately one-quarter of all land-based carbon, underscoring why its protection is a key climate priority.
Alongside Brazil, other equatorial nations such as Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, and Peru are also at the forefront of being the capital of the Earth’s lungs.
Adding to that, China goes far beyond its initial reputation as having the largest forests in the world by actively executing decades of large-scale tree-planting initiatives, such as its ecological engineering project the Great Green Wall.
Here’s a closer look at the 10 countries that have the largest forests in the world:
Russia - 832,629.93 hectares
Brazil - 486,086.64 hectares
Canada - 368,818.85 hectares
United States - 308,895 hectares
China - 227,153 hectares
Democratic Republic of the Congo - 139,189.05 hectares
Australia - 133,561.59 hectares
Indonesia - 95,969.30 hectares
India - 72,739 hectares
Peru - 67,159.76 hectares
Read: Countries That Adopt AI the Fastest, According to Microsoft
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