13
11
The national forest reserve in Cambodia has not yet been officially demarcated and is therefore not included in this figure.
12
With the exception of Singapore, for which the 2010 FAO forest resources assessment data were used.
2.2 Status of forests
The total land area in the ASEAN region is 444 million ha ASEAN Secretariat, 2012. Land designated as forest land by governments currently stands at 253 million ha
11
, approximately 57 percent of the total land area. Based on data provided
by the forestry department in each country, forest cover is estimated at 200 million ha, or 46 percent of the total land area. Table 4 shows the extent of forest land, forest cover and rates of forest cover change in the ten ASEAN member countries,
based on data provided by each national forest department.
12
14
Table 4: Forest land, forest cover and forest cover change in ASEAN countries
Brunei Darussalam Cambodia
Indonesia Lao PDR
Malaysia Myanmar
Philippines Singapore
Thailand Viet Nam
Total Country
527,000 17,652,000
181,157,000 23,080,000
32,855,000 65,755,000
29,817,000 69,000
51,089,000 33,019,000
435,020,000 235,520
na 130,680,000
16,000,000 20,450,514
31,773,000 15,805,000
2,300 22,400,000
15,188,740 252,535,074
45 na
72 69
62 48
53 3
44 46
58
322,195 10,363,789
89,630,000 9,550,000
20,450,514 31,773,000
7,168,400 2,300
17,200,000 13,515,064
199,975,262
61 59
49 41
62 48
24 3
34 41
46
-2,000 -91,748
-832,127 -34,650
-87,000 -310,000
52,000 not available
149,727 -1,155,798
2005-2010 2006-2010
2006-2010 2002-2010
2005-2010 2005-2010
2000-2005 na
not available 2005-2010
--
-0.47 -0.85
-0.89 -0.35
-0.42 -0.91
0.77 0.00
-0.57 1.19
-0.58 Total land Area
ha Designated Forest Area
Average Annual Rates of Forest Cover Change Actual Forest Cover
ha ha
land area forest cover
period ha per year
land area
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
Sources:
1
Brunei Forest Department. Current gazetted forest area is 235,520 ha. Plus 86,675 ha of forest is proposed for gazettement. http:www.forestry.gov.bnfrst_forest.htm Accessed 18 April 2013. Cover change data from FAO 2010.
2
Data from Cambodia Forest Cover 2010. Change rate calculated by the author based on FA 2006 and FA 2010.
3
National Level Forestry Plan 2011-2030, Ministerial Regulation No. P.49Menhut-II2011, DG of Forestry Planning; and Directorate of Social Forestry Development, MoF, presented at 2nd ASFN Learing Group Workshop. February 2013. Change rate for 20056 to 200910 from MoF Forest Statistics 2012.
4
Government Sector Lao PDR 2010, presented at 2nd ASFN Learing Group Workshop, February 2013. Data presented by government presents forest cover change as a percentage of total land -0.15. In this study it is presented as a of forest cover to enable comparison with other countries.
5
Forest cover data presented at 2nd ASFN Learning Group Workshop. February 2013. Forest cover change data from FAO 2010.
6
Myanmar Forest Department, presented at 2nd ASFN Learning Group Workshop. February 2013
7
Forest cover data is based on data from the 2003 inventory, presented at ASFN Learning Group Workshop in February 2013. Cover change rate was provided by DENR in July 2013. Philippines Land Cover Mapping for 2010 is taking place in 2013 and should be available in 2014.
8
FAO 2010a
9
Data provided by the Thai Royal Forest Department in May 2013.
10
Vietnam Forest Administration, 2013. Change rate calculated by the author based on VNFOREST data from 2005 and 2011.
15 Based on the data provided by each forest department Table 5, total forest cover is more than 13 million ha – smaller
than the figure reported in the 2010 baseline assessment RECOFTC, ASFN and SDC, 2010 and the 2010 forest resources assessment FAO, 2010a. A significant part of this change is due to the different parameters used to measure forest cover
in the FAO forest resources assessment and by each state forest department, particularly in the case of Lao PDR.
13
Table 5: Comparison of forest cover data from the 2010 FAO forest resources assessment and national forest departments, 2013
13
The 2010 baseline assessment used the 2010 FAO forest resources assessment data, based on 10 percent canopy cover resulting in 15.8 million ha of forest cover. The Lao PDR Department of Forestry used a 20 percent canopy cover threshold to produce the current figure of 9.6 million ha.
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia Indonesia
Lao PDR Malaysia
Myanmar Singapore
Philippines Thailand
Viet Nam
Total
61 59
49 41
62 48
3 24
34 41
46
-57,805 +269,789
-4,802,000 -6,201,000
+5,486
-496,600 -1,772,000
-281,936 -13,347,038
322,195 10,363,789
89,630,000 9,550,000
20,450,514 31,773,000
2,300 7,168,400
17,200,000 13,515,064
199,975,262
72 57
52 68
62 48
3 26
37 42
49
380,000 10,094,000
94,432,000 15,751,000
20,456,000 31,773,000
2,300 7,665,000
18,972,000 13,797,000
213,322,300 Country
Forest resource assessment 2010 Forest department 2013
Variance ha
land area ha
land area ha
Figure 3: Map of forest cover in Southeast Asia in 2005
16 Among the ASEAN countries, Indonesia has the largest amount of forest cover, at almost 90 million ha, covering 49 percent
of its land area MOF, 2011.
14
Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia and Malaysia have more than 50 percent of their land covered with forest.
15
With the exception of Singapore, the Philippines has the smallest proportion of forest cover, at only 24 percent of the total land area, making it one of the most heavily deforested countries in the tropics DENR, 2002. Figure 4 reflects
the distribution of forest cover in the eight ASEAN countries covered in this study.
Figure 4: Distribution of forest cover in the ASEAN region, 2013
Forests in the ASEAN region are under pressure from a complex range of direct and indirect anthropogenic pressures. Based on the 2010 FAO data, forest cover in Southeast Asia is estimated to have declined by an average of 1.2 million ha per year
between 2005 and 2010 FAO, 2010a. Figure 5 shows the decline in forest cover in the ASEAN region since 1990 based on the 2010 forest resources assessment data and the current area of forest cover.
Figure 5: Forest cover in ASEAN countries 1990–2010 in thousands of ha
14
National Level Forestry Plan 2011–2030, Ministerial Regulation No. P. 49Menhut-II2011, Directorate-General of Forestry Planning, Ministry of Forestry, presented at the second ASFCC Learning Group Workshop, February 2013.
15
Cambodia and Malaysia include some tree plantations as forest cover. Forest Resources
Assessment FRA data
246,294 222,191
218,698 213,322
150,000 175,000
200,000 225,000
250,000 275,000
300,000
1990 2000
2005 2010
2013 Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
Indonesia
Lao PDR Malaysia
Myanmar Philippines
Singapore Thailand
Vietnam Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia Indonesia
Lao PDR Malaysia
Myanmar Philippines
Singapore Thailand
Viet Nam
17 Many factors contribute to deforestation, including the direct causes of forest loss as well as underlying economic, socio-
political, demographic and cultural factors Table 6. Direct drivers of deforestation include clearance for agricultural production, wood extraction, forest fires, infrastructure development, increasing urbanization and human settlements.
Indirect drivers include consumer demand for timber and agricultural products, weak local governance and corruption, weak land tenure, population growth, migration and poverty Zurek et al., 2013.
Table 6: Drivers of deforestation in ASEAN countries
Forest cover in most ASEAN countries is in decline. Indonesia has the largest annual reduction in forest area, with 832,127 ha 0.89 percent lost each year between 2006 and 2009 MOF, 2012. Myanmar has the highest rate of deforestation,
with forest cover falling by 0.91 percent 310,000 ha per year. The deforestation rate increased from 0.87 percent in 2006 to 0.91 percent in 2010 MOECAF, 2013. Lao PDR currently has the lowest deforestation rate, at 34,650 ha per year, with
the exception of Singapore, where the small area of remaining forest is protected. Other countries report an increase in forest cover. In Viet Nam, forest cover increased by 1.7 million ha between 2002 and 2011 due to large-scale reforestation
programmes and currently stands at 41 percent of the total land area VNFOREST, 2013. In the Philippines, inventory data indicates that forest cover increased from 5.4 million ha in 1988 to 7.2 million ha in 2003.
16
2.3 Forest area managed by local people in the ASEAN region
