Algeria - Forestry

Only 1.6% of the land area is forested. The mountain ranges contain dense forests of evergreens (evergreen oak, Aleppo pine, and cedar) and deciduous trees, whereas the warmer regions contain large numbers of fruit and palm trees. Algeria is an important producer of cork; other forestry products are firewood, charcoal, and wood for industrial use. Roundwood production was estimated at 7,525,000 cu m (94.7 million cu ft) in 2000.

Two-thirds of the French-planted forests in eastern Algeria were burned by French forces during the 1954–62 war. Reforestation was begun on 12,100 hectares (30,000 acres) of unused land in the semiarid region in 1960. By 1964, 25 million trees had been planted: eucalyptus in clay soils, Aleppo pine in calcareous regions, and olive trees. Current reforestation projects include the planting of a "green wall" across Algeria from the Moroccan to the Tunisian frontier to halt the encroachment of the Sahara. During the first half of the 1980s, reforestation proceeded at a rate of 52,000 hectares (128,000 acres) per year, but from 1984 to 1994, deforestation averaged about 45,000 hectares (111,200 acres) per year, so that Algeria now has 10% less forested land than in 1979.