Russia has the world's largest forest reserves, known as "the lungs of Europe", second only to the Amazon Rainforest in the amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs. Russia possesses 10% of the world's arable land, and Lake Baikal alone contains over one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water.

Over 40% of Belarus' 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) is forested. About a fifth of Belarusian land (principally farmland and forests in the southeastern regions) was affected by radiation fallout from Ukraine's 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

There are currently 78 protected areas in Nicaragua, covering about 17% of its landmass. Nicaragua has committed to restoring 2.7 million hectares of its land by 2020, through a pledge to the Bonn Challenge.