biodiversity

Forests cover 4.14 billion hectares, about 32% of the world's land, per FAO's 2025 assessment. Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States and China hold more than half. Ranked by area and by share of land, with what the numbers miss.

Nobody can rank countries by national park count fairly, because 'national park' means different things in different legal systems. Here is what the protected-area data actually shows, from Zambia's 41% to the 63 US parks, and what protection achieves.

The United Kingdom protects 8.1 million km² of ocean — the most of any country. Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is the world's largest single MPA. The global target is 30% of oceans protected by 2030 (30x30). Currently only 8% is protected. Here's the full marine protection ranking.

Australia reports 53 million hectares of organic farmland, more than half the world total, much of it extensive grazing land. Austria, Uruguay, and Estonia lead on share of farmland. Here is who leads, how the numbers are counted, and what the yield gap means.

Species are disappearing tens to hundreds of times faster than the long-run average, and monitored wildlife populations have fallen by about three-quarters since 1970. Here is what the numbers mean, what drives the loss, and what has worked.

The world clears about 10.9 million hectares of forest a year, slightly more than the area of Iceland. Here is what drives it, what it costs the climate, and which fixes have measurable results.