Cypriot forests absorb the lowest share of greenhouse emissions in the EU

Greenhouse gas emissions by far outweigh the amount  Cyprus’ forests can absorb, a Eurostat report published on International Forest Day shows.

In 2016, 9,65768 million tones of greenhouse gas were emitted in Cyprus and its forests absorbed only 0.3253 million tones.

This was the lowest share of greenhouse gas emissions absorbed by forests in the EU.

The highest share was in Sweden, where its forests absorbed 41,27428 greenhouse gas emissions in million tones, of the 55,45248 million tones emitted (74%).

In 2015, Cyprus had the third lowest amount (386,1900 hectares) of forest area or other wooded land in the EU, a reasonable statistic as Cyprus is the third smallest country in the union.

The amount of forest area or other wooded land in Cyprus increased from 1990 by a little more than 30,000 hectares (it was (356,110 hectares).

The source data are here.

Forests play a significant role in helping to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. EU forests absorbed 417 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2016, corresponding to around 9% of total GHG emissions (4 441 million tonnes), compared to less than 7% (375 m tonnes) in 1990.

EU

The European Union (EU) had close to 182 million hectares of forests and other wooded land in 2015, corresponding to 43 % of its land area. Wooded land covers a slightly greater proportion of the land than the area used for agriculture (some 41 %).

In seven EU Member States, more than half of the land area was wooded in 2015. Just over three quarters of the land area was wooded in Finland and Sweden, while Slovenia reported 63 %. The remaining four EU Member States, each with shares in the range of 54–56 %, were Estonia, Latvia, Spain and Portugal.

Sweden reported the largest wooded area in 2015 (30.5 million hectares), followed by Spain (27.6 million hectares) and Finland (23.0 million hectares). Of the total area of the EU covered by wooded land in 2015, Sweden and Finland together accounted for 29.4 %.

The source data are here. The statistics on forest cover are taken from a five-yearly survey and the next survey will be in 2020.