Forests are the lungs of our planet. They play a vital role in protecting the Earth's climate, yet this green resource is not spread evenly across the world. Just a handful of countries hold most of the planet's forests. According to recent data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the world's total forest area stands at about 4.1 billion hectares. Nearly half of the world's forests are located in just five countries. Russia alone accounts for about one-fifth of the global total, with its forests making up roughly 20.1 percent of the world's forest area.

Brazil ranks second on the list with 11.7 percent of the world's forests. Canada is third, holding 8.9 percent. The United States sits in fourth place with 7.5 percent, while China completes the top five with 5.5 percent. Countries in the Americas dominate the upper part of the list: eight of the top fifteen nations are in the Americas, including Brazil, Canada and the United States, as well as Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia and Venezuela. Africa presents a completely different picture. Forests there are distributed more evenly among countries, and the continent as a whole holds 16 percent of the world's forests. The Democratic Republic of Congo leads the region with 3.4 percent, while the Middle East as a whole has only about 1 percent of the world's forests.

This uneven distribution is a major cause for concern, especially when wildfires break out. Canada has faced serious wildfire seasons time and again, with blazes destroying tens of millions of hectares of tree cover. British Columbia has witnessed major wildfires that forced thousands of people to evacuate to safety, and the smoke from these fires has drifted into the United States.

Meanwhile, Russia and Canada together hold about three of every ten hectares of forest worldwide. As a result, any major wildfire in these two countries has severe consequences, degrading air quality thousands of miles away and multiplying carbon emissions. Source: Visual Capitalist.