A forest is an area of land dominated by trees.

[1] Hundreds of definitions of forest are used

throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal
standing, and ecological function.[2][3][4] The United Nations' Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) defines a forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher
than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these
thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban
use."[5] Using this definition, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 (FRA 2020) found that
forests covered 4.06 billion hectares (10.0 billion acres; 40.6 million square kilometres;
15.7 million square miles), or approximately 31 percent of the world's land area in 2020.[6]
Forests are the predominant terrestrial ecosystem of Earth, and are found around the
globe.[7] More than half of the world's forests are found in only five countries (Brazil, Canada,
China, Russia, and the United States). The largest share of forests (45 percent) are in
the tropical latitudes, followed by those in the boreal, temperate, and subtropic domains.[8]
Forests account for 75% of the gross primary production of the Earth's biosphere, and contain
80% of the Earth's plant biomass. Net primary production is estimated at 21.9 gigatonnes of
biomass per year for tropical forests, 8.1 for temperate forests, and 2.6 for boreal forests.[7]
Forests at different latitudes and elevations, and with different precipitation
and evapotranspiration[9] form distinctly different biomes: boreal forests around the North
Pole, tropical moist forests and tropical dry forests around the Equator, and temperate forests at
the middle latitudes. Areas at higher elevations tend to support forests similar to those at higher
latitudes, and the amount of precipitation also affects forest composition.
Almost half the forest area (49 percent) is relatively intact, while 9 percent is found in fragments
with little or no connectivity. Tropical rainforests and boreal coniferous forests are the least
fragmented, whereas subtropical dry forests and temperate oceanic forests are among the most
fragmented. Roughly 80 percent of the world's forest area is found in patches larger than
1 million hectares (2.5 million acres). The remaining 20 percent is located in more than 34 million
patches around the world – the vast majority less than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) in size.[8]
Human society and forests influence each other in both positive and negative ways.[10] Forests
provide ecosystem services to humans and serve as tourist attractions. Forests can also affect
people's health. Human activities, including unsustainable use of forest resources, can negatively
affect forest ecosystems.[11]
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater stream, flowing on the surface or
inside caves towards another waterbody at a lower elevation, such as
an ocean, sea, bay, lake, wetland or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground or
becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water. Small rivers can be
referred to using names such as creek, brook, rivulet and rill. There are no official definitions for
the generic term river as applied to geographic features,[1] although in some countries or
communities a stream is defined by its size. Many names for small rivers are specific to
geographic location; examples are "run" in some parts of the United States, "burn"
in Scotland and Northeast England, and "beck" in Northern England. Sometimes a river is
defined as being larger than a creek,[2] but not always: the language is vague.[1]

Melting toe of Athabasca Glacier, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Rivers are an important part of the water cycle. Water from a drainage basin generally collects
into a river through surface runoff from precipitation, meltwater released from
natural ice and snowpacks, and other underground sources such as groundwater
recharge and springs. Rivers are often considered major features within a landscape; however,
they actually only cover around 0.1% of the land on Earth.
Rivers are significant to mankind since many human settlements and civilizations are built
around sizeable rivers and streams.[3] Most of the major cities of the world are situated on the
banks of rivers, as they are (or were) depended upon as a vital source of drinking water, for food
supply via fishing and agricultural irrigation, for shipping, as natural borders and/or defensive
terrains, as a source of hydropower to drive machinery or generate electricity, for bathing, and as
a means of disposing of waste. In the pre-industrial era, larger rivers were a major obstacle to
movement of people, goods, and armies across regions. Towns often developed at the few
locations suitable for fording, to build bridges or to support ports, and many major cities such
as London are located at the narrowest and most reliable site at which a river could be crossed
via bridges or ferries.[4]
In Earth science disciplines, potamology is the scientific study of rivers, while limnology is the
study of inland waters in general.