The Brazilian Forest Service (SFB) adopts the definition of forest established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO/UN):
WHAT DO WE CONSIDER FOREST?
Area measuring more than 0.5 ha with trees greater than 5 m in height and canopy coverage greater than 10%; or with trees capable of reaching these parameters in situ. Areas predominantly under agricultural or urban use are not included. – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, 2023).
From this definition, forest is considered to be the vegetation phytophysiognomies of the Brazilian Vegetation Classification System (IBGE, 2012) that correspond to the criteria adopted by FAO. Thus, the types of vegetation considered as forest typologies are:
- Open Rainforest;
- Dense Rainforest;
- Mixed Rainforest;
- Seasonal Deciduous Forest;
- Semideciduous Seasonal Forest;
- Evergreen Seasonal Forest;
- Wooded Grassland and Forested Grassland;
- Wooded Savannah and Forested Savannah;
- Wooded Steep Savanna and Forested Steep Savanna;
- Wooded Steppe;
- Tree vegetation with marine, fluviomarine, fluvial and/or lake influence: Restinga, Mangrove forest, Palmeiral (areas of pioneer training);
- Ecological Stress Areas or Floristic Contacts in which at least one formation is forest;
- Secondary Vegetation in forest areas;
- Reforestation (planted forest).
Methodology for estimating the area of forests
To estimate the forest area of Brazil, the SFB uses the IBGE vegetation map (scale 1:250,000, version 2021; IBGE, 2021), identifying the dominant phytophysiognomy in each polygon to establish a map of past vegetation (original vegetation typologies of Brazil), disregarding the classes of anthropic use. This map is then intersected with the deforestation data produced by the Satellite Deforestation Monitoring Program (PRODES) of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE, 2024a), resulting in a map of remaining vegetation. Next, secondary vegetation data from the TerraClass Project (INPE, 2024b) are incorporated into this map, adding the areas of forest vegetation that have undergone deforestation but are in the regeneration stage. The product of this processing is the SFB's forest database, which contains data on the remaining natural vegetation, including secondary vegetation, classified according to its plant types, allowing the calculation of the area of natural forest and also the area of non-forest formations. Finally, for the estimation of the total forest area of the country, the planted forest area made available by the Survey of Forestry Activities (PEVS), developed by IBGE (IBGE, 2024a) is added.
Source: preparation by the Brazilian Forest Service.