Although the word forest is commonly used, there is no universally recognised precise definition, with more than 800 definitions of forest used around the world.[4] Although a forest is usually defined by the presence of trees, under many definitions an area completely lacking trees may still be considered a forest if it grew trees in the past, will grow trees in the future,[12] or was legally designated as a forest regardless of vegetation type.[13][14]

There are three broad categories of definitions of forest in use: administrative, land use, and land cover.[13] Administrative definitions are based primarily upon the legal designations of land, and commonly bear little relationship to its vegetation: land that is legally designated as a forest is defined as such even if no trees are growing on it.[13] Land-use definitions are based on the primary purpose that the land serves. For example, a forest may be defined as any land that is used primarily for production of timber. Under such a land-use definition, cleared roads or infrastructure within an area used for forestry—or areas that have been cleared by harvesting, disease, or fire—are still considered forests, even if they contain no trees. Land-cover definitions define forests based upon the type and density of vegetation growing on the land. Such definitions typically define a forest as an area growing trees above some threshold. These thresholds are typically the number of trees per area (density), the area of ground under the tree canopy (canopy cover) or the section of land that is occupied by the cross-section of tree trunks (basal area).[13] Under such land-cover definitions, an area of land can only be known as forest if it is growing trees. Areas that fail to meet the land-cover definition may be still included while immature trees are present that are expected to meet the definition at maturity.[13]

watermarked_petrocity_nov-02-2022-04-31-13.pdf

Under land-use definitions, there is considerable variation on where the cutoff points are between a forest, woodland, and savanna. Under some definitions, to be considered a forest requires very high levels of tree canopy cover, from 60% to 100%,[15] which excludes woodlands and savannas, which have a lower canopy cover. Other definitions consider savannas to be a type of forest, and include all areas with tree canopies over 10%.[12]

Some areas covered with trees are legally defined as agricultural areas, e.g. Norway spruce plantations, under Austrian forest law, when the trees are being grown as Christmas trees and are below a certain height.