REMINDER: There is one week left to register for the upcoming virtual launch of the refreshed NYDF on October 13, 2021 from 9:00 to 10:30 AM EST | 13:00 to 14:30 UTC | 21:00 to 23:00 UTC+8.

This event will:

• Summarize alterations to the Declaration and the NYDF Global Platform informed by the collaborative "refresh" process

• Review key findings from the upcoming NYDF Assessment Report

• Reflect on the value of this global, multi-stakeholder framework for forests and its coalition of endorsers as a driver of forest action in this next critical decade and beyond

Panelists and participants will include members of the NYDF Global Platform and NYDF Assessment, NYDF endorsers, senior officials from donor and forest countries, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, and senior staff from environmental organizations and companies.

RECORDATORIO: Queda una semana para inscribirse en el próximo lanzamiento virtual del renovado NYDF el 13 de octubre de 2021 de 9:00 a 10:30 AM EST | 13:00 a 14:30 UTC | 21:00 a 23:00 UTC+8.

En este evento:

• Resumir las modificaciones de la Declaración y de la Plataforma Global del NYDF, basadas en el proceso de colaboración de "actualización"
• Examinar las principales conclusiones del próximo informe de evaluación del progreso del NYDF
• Reflexionar sobre el valor de este marco mundial de múltiples partes interesadas para los bosques y su coalición de partidarios como motor de la acción forestal en esta próxima década crítica y más allá.

Entre los panelistas y participantes se encontrarán miembros de la Plataforma Global del NYDF y de la Evaluación del NYDF, avalistas del NYDF, altos funcionarios de países donantes y forestales, donantes bilaterales y multilaterales, y personal directivo de organizaciones y empresas medioambientales.

RAPPEL: Il ne reste plus qu'une semaine pour s'inscrire au prochain lancement virtuel du nouveau NYDF le 13 octobre 2021 de 9h00 à 10h30 EST | 13h00 à 14h30 UTC | 21h00 à 23h00 UTC+8.

Dans cet événement :

• Résumer les modifications apportées à la Déclaration et à la Plate-forme mondiale du NYDF suite au processus collaboratif de " rafraîchissement "
• Examiner les principales conclusions du prochain rapport d'évaluation des progrès du NYDF
• Réfléchir à la valeur de ce cadre mondial multipartite pour les forêts et de sa coalition d'adhérents en tant que moteur de l'action forestière au cours de la prochaine décennie critique et au-delà.

Les panélistes et les participants comprendront des membres de la Plate-forme mondiale et de l'évaluation du NYDF, des partisans du NYDF, des hauts fonctionnaires des pays donateurs et des pays forestiers, des donateurs bilatéraux et multilatéraux, et des cadres supérieurs d'organisations et d'entreprises environnementales.

LEMBRETE: Falta uma semana para a inscrição no próximo lançamento virtual do NYDF renovado em 13 de Outubro de 2021 das 9:00 às 10:30 EST | 13:00 às 14:30 UTC | 21:00 às 23:00 UTC+8.

Neste caso:

• Resumir alterações à Declaração e à Plataforma Global de NYDF informadas pelo processo de "atualização" colaborativa
• Revisar as principais conclusões do próximo Relatório de Avaliação de Progresso da NYDF
• Refletir sobre o valor desta estrutura global e multi-stakeholder para as florestas e sua coalizão de endossadores como um motor da ação florestal nesta próxima década crítica e além

Os membros do painel e participantes incluirão membros da Plataforma Global da NYDF e da Avaliação da NYDF, endossadores da NYDF, funcionários superiores de países doadores e países florestais, doadores bilaterais e multilaterais, e pessoal superior de organizações e empresas ambientais.

Thank you for attending the virtual launch of the refreshed New York Declaration on Forests!

The event was a tremendous success filled with critical insights from the outstanding panelists and speakers. We were joined by:

• members of the NYDF Global Platform and NYDF Assessment to provide an overview of updates from the collaborative "refresh" process;
• John Hixon, Yum! Brands and Sarah Lake, Feed The Truth who reflected on the collaborative refresh process and the impact of the updated Declaration on their continued efforts in this work;
• keynote speaker, Roberto Múkaro Borrero, with an essential reminder of the need to integrate a human rights framework into the NYDF and a call to respect and protect Indigenous Peoples as the rightful stewards of forests;
• several NYDF endorsers who shared on-the-ground progress and implementation of the newly revised NYDF Goals, continued challenges, and emphasized the need for collective action;
  • Edu Effiom, Cross River State Forestry Commission
  • Jennifer Koinante, Yiaku Laikipiak Trust
  • Silvia Llama, Pronatura Sur A.C.
  • Pablo Montoya Dávila, Grupo Éxito
  • Ms. Glenda Ortega, Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition of Ecuador
• and a passionate closing by Martha Isabela "Pati" Ruiz-Corzo on the need to go forth with bold new strategies in the fight against deforestation rooted in a deep sense of love and respect for the Earth and future generations.

You can find a full recording here and the PowerPoint slides from the session here.

To read more about the refresh process and updates to the NYDF Declaration, visit https://forestdeclaration.org/a-renewed-call-to-action/

The COP Presidency and the Nature 4 Climate Coalition have organized November 6th as Nature Day.
(See full COP26 programme here for more details.)

Emerging Policy Approaches For Intact Forest Conservation

Saturday, November 6 | 17:00-18:30 GMT
(Click here to register)

SDG 15 Event: High-level Dialogue of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests: Upscaling Actions to Turn the Tide on Deforestation
Saturday, November 6
(Click here for more details)
 
Marrakech Partnership: Land Use Action Event
Saturday, November 6
(Click here for more details)

Progress toward 2030 forest goals

Only eight years remain to achieve the twin global goals of halting and reversing deforestation by 2030. Despite encouraging signs, not a single global indicator is on track to meet these 2030 goals of stopping forest loss and degradation and restoring 350 million hectares of forest landscape.

The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment sheds a stark light on the state of global forest commitments but offers hope that achieving the 2030 forest goals is possible. The Assessment is presented as series of four reports on Overarching forest goals (Theme 1), Sustainable production and development (Theme 2), Finance for forests (Theme 3), and Forest governance (Theme 4)—all summarized in an Executive Summary.

Overarching forest goals

To be on course to halt deforestation completely by 2030, a 10 percent annual reduction is needed. However, deforestation rates around the world declined only modestly, in 2021, by 6.3 percent compared to the 2018-20 baseline. In the humid tropics, loss of irreplaceable primary forest decreased by only 3.1 percent.

Globally, forests became more degraded in 2021, but more slowly than during the 2018-20 baseline period; if continued, this slowdown may in time put the world on track to meet the 2030 target.

Tropical Asia is the only region currently on track to halt deforestation by 2030. While deforestation rates in Tropical Latin America and Africa decreased in 2021 relative to the 2018-20 baseline, those reductions are still insufficient to meet the 2030 goal.

Notable progress in afforestation and reforestation efforts over the last two decades have resulted in new forest new forest areas the size of Peru, with net gains of forest cover in 36 countries. However, overall losses exceeded gains over the same period, resulting in a net loss of 100 million hectares globally.

The building blocks for progress

Forest goals enshrined in the New York Declaration on Forests, the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, the Bonn Challenge, and other pledges recognize that halting deforestation and restoring forests requires a wide array of actors and the need to balance environmental, social, and economic interests. These goals provide the most concrete statements of global ambition to protect and restore forests – which are critical to meeting the aspirations of the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and many other global ambitions.

The accompanying reports from this Assessment—focused on sustainable production and development (Theme 2); finance for forests (Theme 3); and forest governance (Theme 4)—highlight critical actions that a variety of stakeholders must enact to meet their forests goals. Governments, companies, and civil society must collaborate to accelerate forest action, supported by transparency and accountability. Governments must carefully consider whether voluntary action is a viable foundation to achieve the 2030 forest goals, and how the role of mandatory action, disclosure, and accountability should be increased. Meanwhile, companies need to urgently increase the scope and stringency of corporate action, whether voluntary or mandated. A variety of private sector actors—companies, financial institutions, and philanthropies—have not yet leveraged their significant power to steer development and commodity production onto a sustainable trajectory in line with forest goals.

Additionally, funding for forests will need to dramatically increase – by up to 200 times – to meet 2030 goals. Indigenous Peoples and local communities, who are the most effective stewards and guardians of their forest territories, receive far less funding than their estimated finance needs for securing tenure rights and preserving forest ecosystems. Financial institutions and companies across sectors must recognize and act on the inherent business risks presented by deforestation and forest degradation and put in place measures and policies to combat this risk. Public sector actors must take concrete and far-reaching steps to implement and expand their finance commitments and align fiscal and financial policies with forest goals. Where private sector actors choose to invest in nature conservation and restoration, they must ensure that they are supporting high-quality and high-integrity interventions in line with the mitigation hierarchy and science-based targets.

Translations of the Executive Summary into Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Indonesian Bahasa are now available!

About the Assessment:

The Forest Declaration Assessment is a continual and collaborative process achieved collectively by civil society organizations and researchers, known as the Forest Declaration Assessment Partners. Previously the NYDF Progress Assessment, the Forest Declaration Assessment has since 2015 published annual updates on progress toward global forest goals. All assessment findings undergo a rigorous peer review process conducted by experts across the globe. Click here to learn more about the Forest Declaration Assessment.

Only eight years remain to achieve the twin global goals of halting and reversing deforestation by 2030. Despite encouraging signs, not a single global indicator is on track to meet these 2030 goals of of stopping forest loss and degradation and restoring 350 million hectares of forest landscape.

The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment sheds a stark light on the state of global forest commitments but offers hope that achieving the 2030 forest goals is possible. The Assessment is presented as series of four reports on Overarching forest goals (Theme 1), Sustainable production and development (Theme 2), Finance for forests (Theme 3), and Forest governance (Theme 4)—all summarized in an Executive Summary.

Forests are fundamental to regulating and stabilizing the global climate. Meeting the Paris Agreement’s ambition of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5°C will require global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to reach net-zero by the second half of this century. Eliminating deforestation by 2030 is a major milestone towards achieving the 2050 net zero target. Land use change, including deforestation and degradation, accounts for 10-12 percent of global GHG emissions.[1] Protecting forests also comes with clear benefits for people, biodiversity, and sustainable development.[2]  

Halting deforestation and forest degradation as soon as possible, and no later than 2030, will substantially reduce the release of terrestrial GHG emissions to the atmosphere. Restoring forests and other ecosystems will also return significant amounts of carbon to stored biomass and help us realize our collective 2030 targets.

Only eight years remain to achieve the twin global goals of halting and reversing deforestation by 2030. Despite encouraging signs, not a single global indicator is on track to meet these 2030 goals of of stopping forest loss and degradation and restoring 350 million hectares of forest landscape.

To be on course to halt deforestation completely by 2030, a 10 percent annual reduction is needed. However, deforestation rates around the world declined only modestly, in 2021, by 6.3 percent compared to the 2018-20 baseline. In the humid tropics, loss of irreplaceable primary forest decreased by Globally, forests became more degraded in 2021, but more slowly than during the 2018-20 baseline period; if continued, this slowdown may in time put the world on track to meet the 2030 target. There is also a significant year-to-year fluctuation in both deforestation and degradation metrics, which makes it difficult to detect trends over short periods of time. Future Assessments will continue to monitor these processes to confirm the limited progress detected in 2021.  

Tropical Asia is the only region currently on track to halt deforestation by 2030 (see Figure). While deforestation rates in Tropical Latin America and Africa decreased in 2021 relative to the 2018-20 baseline, those reductions are still insufficient to meet the 2030 goal. Each year that passes without sufficient progress makes it increasingly difficult to meet global forest protection goals—and increases the annual reductions required in future years.

Notable progress in afforestation and reforestation efforts over the last two decades have resulted in new forest new forest areas the size of Peru, with net gains of forest cover in 36 countries. However, overall losses exceeded gains over the same period, resulting in a net loss of 100 million hectares globally. It should be noted that forest cover gains, through reforestation and afforestation activities, do not compensate for forest loss in terms of carbon storage, biodiversity, or ecosystem services. Therefore, highest priority efforts should be directed towards safeguarding primary forests from losses in the first place. 

[1] IPCC. (2014). Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/; IPCC. (2019). Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/.

[2] Chao, S. (2012). Forest Peoples: Numbers across the world. https://www.forestpeoples.org/sites/fpp/files/publication/2012/05/forest-peoples-numbers-across-world-final_0.pdf; World Resources Institute & Climate Focus. (2022). Sink or swim: How Indigenous and community lands can make or break nationally determined contributions (p. 22). https://forestdeclaration.org/resources/sink-or-swim; Gibson, L., Lee, T.M., Koh, L.P., Brook, B.W., Gardner, T.A., Barlow, J., Peres, C.A., Bradshaw, C.J., Laurance, W.F., Lovejoy, T.E. & Sodhi, N.S. (2011). Primary forests are irreplaceable for sustaining tropical biodiversity. Nature, 478(7369), 378-381. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10425

Only eight years remain to achieve the twin global goals of halting and reversing deforestation by 2030. Despite encouraging signs, not a single global indicator is on track to meet these 2030 goals of of stopping forest loss and degradation and restoring 350 million hectares of forest landscape.

The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment sheds a stark light on the state of global forest commitments but offers hope that achieving the 2030 forest goals is possible. The Assessment is presented as series of four reports on Overarching forest goals (Theme 1), Sustainable production and development (Theme 2), Finance for forests (Theme 3), and Forest governance (Theme 4) -- all summarized in an Executive Summary.

The initial NYDF Assessment report, published in 2015, proposes a framework of indicators to track progress toward each of the ten goals of the NYDF.

The report, “Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests: An assessment framework and initial report” seeks to fill the gap of the original NYDF, which launched without a process or methodology that would allow monitoring progress toward achieving its goals.

One year after the adoption of the NYDF is too early to draw conclusions about progress in most areas. But in the past year, new initiatives have been launched, additional commitments have been made, and implementation of relevant programs has begun. These are important steps in the right direction and may help accelerate trends toward achieving the NYDF goals. Still, overall progress remains slow and more action is urgently needed.

Five years after the launch of the NYDF, there is little evidence that its goals are on track, and achieving the 2020 NYDF targets is likely impossible. The 2019 NYDF Assessment report assesses progress toward all ten goals of the NYDF, five years after the Declaration's launch.

In September 2014, a broad coalition of governments, companies, civil society, and indigenous peoples’ organizations endorsed the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF). 

Driven by the shared understanding that halting deforestation is essential to keep temperature increases below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the endorsers adopted an ambitious declaration detailing ten goals. By committing to the ten goals of the declaration, endorsers have agreed to work toward halving tropical deforestation by 2020 and ending it by 2030. The NYDF also calls for the restoration of 150 million hectares of degraded landscapes and forestlands by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030.

Five years later, there is little evidence that these goals are on track, and achieving the 2020 NYDF targets is likely impossible.

The 2020 NYDF Assessment Report takes a stark look at trends across all ten goals of the NYDF and find progress to be wanting.

This report was supported by the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA), the Good Energies Foundation, and the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag via the NYDF Global Platform.

Meeting the 2030 target of halting natural forest loss requires urgent and comprehensive action.

Address the drivers of deforestation.

• Creating a forest-positive economy will require increased transparency and accountability of private companies in removing deforestation from their supply chains; strengthened collaboration across sectors; and realigned economic incentives to protect rather than clear forests.

Restore deforested areas to act as a buffer to primary forest loss.

• Restoration is not a substitute for halting deforestation, but ecological restoration can support secure livelihoods and enhance environmental services.

Enhance national and international climate ambition and action.

• Countries must ramp up their ambition and actions to realized the full potential of forest to contribute to sustainable development and climate change mitigation.

Increase funding for forests and shift financing from grey to green.

• It will take an estimated USD 45-460 billion per year to protect, restore, and enhance forests in line with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target, compared to USD 2.5 billion per year in green finance over the last decade.

Strengthen forest governance.

• Strong policies for forest conservation, restoration, and management, when aligned with other development and economic objectives and sufficiently enforced, are key for meeting the 2030 target. Empowering and recognizing the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities is an essential part of improving forest governance.

The initial NYDF Assessment report, published in 2015, proposes a framework of indicators to track progress toward each of the ten goals of the NYDF.

The report, “Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests: An assessment framework and initial report” seeks to fill the gap of the original NYDF, which launched without a process or methodology that would allow monitoring progress toward achieving its goals.

One year after the adoption of the NYDF is too early to draw conclusions about progress in most areas. But in the past year, new initiatives have been launched, additional commitments have been made, and implementation of relevant programs has begun. These are important steps in the right direction and may help accelerate trends toward achieving the NYDF goals. Still, overall progress remains slow and more action is urgently needed.