Vegetation coverage in EU is close to 40%

In 2010, 178 million hectares of land in the EU were covered by vegetation, accounting for nearly 40% of its total area and 4% of the global green space, according to a report released by the EU statistics agency According to the report, in six of the 27 EU Member States, the vegetation coverage rate is more than 50%, especially in Finland, Sweden and Slovenia, which are 77%, 76% and 63% respectively The report also states that 75 per cent of the forests in the EU are commercially exploitable In addition, nearly half of the renewable energy consumed by EU countries comes from wood and waste from its processing In 2009, renewable energy accounted for 9% of the total domestic energy consumption of EU countries 2011 is the International Year of forests determined by the United Nations It aims to improve people's awareness of the protection, sustainable management and sustainable development of all kinds of forests, encourage people to work together and take actions to protect forests.