Fact Check: Map Shows 'No Country in History Has Ever Planted as Many Trees as China'?

Claim:

Social media users in 2023 and 2024 correctly stated that a map of forest growth in Asia showed no country in the world had ever planted as many trees as China.

Rating:

Miscaptioned ( About this rating? )

What's True:

Although the map was misrepresented by some social media users, it was genuine. Also, between 2001 and 2021, China did have more forest growth than any other nation in the world. However …

What's False:

… forest growth does not necessarily equate to trees being planted, but rather involves several factors, including a tree's growth in height and diameter. Social media users oversimplified and misrepresented the data of the map in question.

A post shared to X on July 14, 2024, cited a map showing forest growth in Asia to claim "no country in history has ever planted as many trees as China."

The post had received more than 2.9 million views at the time of this writing.

A similar post appeared on Reddit in 2023, where it was claimed China had "planted more trees than all nations in the world combined in the last 2 decades."

Map of planting trees in last 20 years in Asia: China has planted more trees than all nations in the world combined in the last 2 decades. Vietnam increased its forest/tree coverage by 56%.
by u/MardukSyria in MapPorn

However, while data showed China had seen the highest forest growth of any country in the 21st century, this did not necessarily equate to the nation having planted the most trees. Forest growth is determined by several factors, which we describe below.

Although the above social media posts included an accurate map, they misrepresented its meaning by saying it showed China had planted more trees than any other country in history. Therefore, we rated the claim "Miscaptioned."

Forest Growth in China

Between 2001 and 2021, China added roughly 164,000 square miles of forest growth, a 24% increase , the most of any nation in the world, according to data visualization company Visual Capitalist , which cited data by World Bank . This was more than the next 19 countries combined.

Forest area is "land under natural or planted stands of trees of at least 5 meters in situ, whether productive or not, and excludes tree stands in agricultural production systems and trees in urban parks and gardens," the World Bank wrote.

However, forest growth does not necessarily equate to trees being planted. Rather, the U.S. Department of Agriculture described overall forest growth as involving several factors, including a tree's growth in height and diameter .

A reverse image search revealed (archived here ) the map in question was first published elsewhere by Visual Capitalist on Dec. 29, 2021. It showed net forest change and deforestation by country and region between 1990 and 2020. China led "in forest growth by land area" in that period.

However, at no point did the graphic state China had planted more trees than any other country in history.

Visual Capitalist's graphic also said the country "increased their forests by almost 243,000 square miles" in those 30 years.

(Visual Capitalist)

Visual Capitalist said the graphic was created using data published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in a report titled, " Global Forests Resources Assessment 2020 ." Snopes verified the calculations produced by Visual Capitalist, based on the the FAO's data, and determined their figures were correct.

According to the report, deforestation represents "the conversion of forest to other land uses, like agriculture or infrastructure." It said, "forest area can increase when trees are planted on land that was not previously forested (afforestation) or when trees grow back on abandoned agricultural or other land (natural forest expansion)." Therefore, forest net change, which is shown in the map in the social media posts, is the sum of all losses due to deforestation and all gains due to afforestation and natural forest expansion.

In other words:

FOREST AREA NET CHANGE = FOREST EXPANSION GAINS - DEFORESTATION LOSSES

But, as the FAO report noted, "forests encompass a wide range of ecosystems that vary considerably in their characteristics," and forest area alone is an insufficient parameter for identifying changes in the planet's forested areas. For example, there are naturally regenerating forests, which contribute to more biodiversity conservation, compared with planted forests.

Again, while China may have led the world in forest growth during between 2001 and 2021, this did not mean the country had planted more trees than any other country in history. Forest is determined both by the "presence of trees and the absence of other predominant land uses," the World Bank noted . This means China may have converted previous industrial or agricultural land areas to forests, thus increasing rates of forest growth.

Although it's possible China experienced the highest net forest change of all countries because it planted more trees than any other nation, none of our research stated this was definitively the case. Finding out which country had planted the most trees ever fell outside the remit of this fact check.

The map was therefore misrepresented and miscaptioned by the Instagram and Reddit posts.

Sources:

Google Lens . https://lens.google.com/search?ep=cnts&re=df&s=4&p=AbrfA8pmKiMnfCfI5Gk-ONM6gcgYmE8QWCn0T3qpgT3bpEuBxs6KLRiJGPs1K9TDZ4tyi2whUGn0OJEfmMjWkfiRNsYHoLOteQivjw0i6WqtvCz2pSEBdqRvwNFC0pfrl6tBioAB800SES79A5HrCO35PM_BADUYIt3JfrAOx7TB0YGMhfCtFmzgf_DJN1cTIN4wB7PGE6pe3mNEJwvEExZoL4Eh1dIcFZFygr7xonxqa7b-Ij1xrcWaxq4HwMCJp4Z56fciJSK_fPdYzREDotRNV9rzAFzelncG-Jqfx8gzB9C1xLuKqq3PRd-P1veWjPQ%3D&st=1721759372459#lns=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsIkVrY0tKR1JqTkdSa05EYzVMV0UwTVdZdE5HRmxZaTFpWm1SaExUUmtZMkl3WlRkbU9EWTROaElmV1hkWVNVbGZaek4yY2xsa1VVVjFlRFl4WHpJd1dFTk5VMXByVGtSb2F3PT0iLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsWyI1NjAxOWQ1MC0yNWNhLTQ0YTItODExYy1jMTQ0MjIxNTk1YzEiXV0=. Accessed 26 July 2024. "World Bank Open Data." World Bank Open Data , https://data.worldbank.org. Accessed 26 July 2024. "---." World Bank Open Data , https://data.worldbank.org. Accessed 26 July 2024.