LI MIN/CHINA DAILY Forests, covering 31 percent of the Earth's total land area, are home to about 80 percent of the world's terrestrial biodiversity, feed over 25 percent of the world's population, and act as the most productive land-based ecosystems. In 2020, the total carbon stock in forests was 662 gigatonnes, making forests the second largest storehouse of carbon to mitigate climate change after the oceans. Global forestry has faced increasing challenges in the past few decades, such as deforestation and forest degradation, as a result of population growth, poorly planned and constructed infrastructure, other unsustainable activities and natural disasters. According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020, which was released by the Food and Agriculture Organization last year, the world has lost around 420 million hectares of forest land to other land uses since 1990.