Based on 35 years’ worth of satellite imagery, we find that global forest cover has increasedby 7.2%. This is in spite of the fact all we hear about is the lost of forestation in the tropics. There’s more to the earth’s forests than what likes in tropical regions.
You can thank plant food (CO2) for that increase.
“We show that—contrary to the prevailing view that forest area has declined globally5—tree cover has increased by 2.24 million km2 (+7.1% relative to the 1982 level). This overall net gain is the result of a net loss in the tropics being outweighed by a net gain in the extratropics. Global bare ground cover has decreased by 1.16 million km2 (−3.1%), most notably in agricultural regions in Asia. Of all land changes, 60% are associated with direct human activities and 40% with indirect drivers such as climate change. Land-use change exhibits regional dominance, including tropical deforestation and agricultural expansion, temperate reforestation or afforestation, cropland intensification and urbanization. Consistently across all climate domains, montane systems have gained tree cover…”