South Africa is estimated to have lost 25 percent of its gross tree cover and 9 percent of its gross primary forest cover since 2000. These figures do not include forest gains, which affect the assessment in a country with a large forestry sector like South Africa. Available tree cover gain data are only available from 2001 to 2012, and imply net tree cover loss of less than 11 percent of total and net primary forest loss of less than 8 percent of total since 2000. The large increase in primary forest loss in 2017 reflected the Knysna forest fires.
