Maurice Info Search Preservation of forests is vital for the protection of the ecosystem. Total forest area decreased by 20 hectares from 47,031 hectares in 2019 to 47,011 hectares in 2020. Some 22,011 hectares (46.8%) of the total forest area in 2020 was state-owned and the remaining 25,000 hectares (53.2%) was privately-owned (Table 2). Out of the 22,011 hectares of state-owned forest area, 11,779 hectares (53.5%) were planted areas, while the Black River Gorges National Park and the nature reserves accounted for 6,574 (29.9%) and 799 (3.6%) hectares respectively. “Pas Geometriques” covered about 589 hectares (2.7%), other nature parks, 908 hectares (4.1%), Ramsar sites, 46 hectares (0.2%) and other forest lands, 1,316 hectares (6.0%). The 25,000 hectares of privately-owned forest lands consisted of 18,447 (73.8%) hectares of plantation, forest lands, scrub and grazing lands, and 6,553 (26.2%) hectares of mountain, rivers and nature reserves.