Goal Assessments

Key messages

We are failing to halve forest loss and associated greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and are not on track to stop them by 2030.

Global deforestation is currently around 10 million hectares per year. Deforestation needs to decrease by nearly 1 million hectares per year to achieve the 2030 target of ending deforestation.

Humid tropical primary forest loss needs to decrease by 340,000 hectares each year to achieve the 2030 target of zero loss. On average, 41% more humid tropical primary forest has been lost each year since the NYDF was signed than before.

The sustained reductions in forest loss needed to achieve the 2030 target would be unprecedented. 

Key Messages

Supply chain efforts have not been successful in eliminating deforestation from the production of agricultural commodities by 2020. 

More than half of the companies included in our assessment have made a public commitment to address deforestation. 

Forest monitoring and supply chain traceability technologies are evolving at a rapid pace and allow for improved risk assessment, supply chain management and engagement with producers. However, tracking and engagement is often limited to immediate suppliersand fails to reach producers, in particular the millions of smallholder commodity growers.

A large number of companies still fail to report on progress to address deforestation in their supply chains. 

Key Messages

Progress toward Goal 3 —reducing deforestation from infrastructure and extractive developments— is too slow to meet global forest and climate goals. Without dramatic shifts in economic development strategies—away from a reliance on extraction, exploitation, and consumption, and toward alternative pathways which value forests and people—the world will not meet its ambitious goals for sustainable development, climate, and forests.

Dozens of countries have made progress in aligning their macroeconomic planning processes and policies with forest goals. However, implementation of these plans is progressing slowly, while some countries are rolling back forest protections, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Corporate and financial transparency related to forests in the extractives and infrastructure sectors remains quite limited as few companies and investors focus on forest risk. 

Indigenous peoples, local communities,  and civil society actors have mobilized to gain access to an influence planning to protect forest lands from harmful development. These environmental defenders face increasing violence.

Key Messages

Economic shifts are pushing more people toward livelihood activities that can impact forests, such as commodity growing, artisanal and small-scale mining, and fuelwood and charcoal production.

Largely top-down development plans often fail to provide commensurate investments in sustainable local economies and to address the systemic nature of both poverty and deforestation.

Indigenous peoples, local communities, smallholders, and civil society actors have mobilized to gain access to and influence planning to protect forest lands.

Key Messages

While pledges are high, the goal of restoring 150 million hectares of forest by 2020 is not on track.

An analysis of Central America using satellite data reveals that three countries – El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala – had net increases in tree cover between 2011 and 2018, while three countries – Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua – had net losses. The results show how complicated it is to track restoration, with hundreds of thousands of hectares of trees gained and lost in each country.

New restoration pledges have been made by corporate actors, and multiple new initiatives link restoration practitioners with finance. Still, it remains to be seen whether these efforts will enable restoration efforts to scale in time to realize existing global goals

Key Messages

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 is reported on a global basis annually and countries can submit national reviews on the progress and challenges they face on a voluntary basis. However, countries face several challenges regarding their capacity to report and evaluate SDG targets.

The future of targets 15.1. and 15.2. is unclear - both targets expire in 2020.

Key Messages

With the exception of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, the multilateral frameworks necessary for the implementation of REDD+ are in place.

More than 30 countries are in advanced stages of REDD+ readiness preparation. However, only a handful have signed results-based payment agreements, indicating significant barriers preventing the implementation of REDD+.

While forest mitigation targets are increasingly included in nationally determined contribution (NDC) targets, they are often unquantifiable or lack the necessary detail for monitoring. The updated NDCs that have been published in the last year show some improvement in the scale and quality of forest and land use targets.

Key Messages

International finance for forests does not reflect their climate change mitigation potential.

Just over USD 6.6 billion in REDD+ finance has been committed by multilateral climate funds since 2010. Less than half of this amount has been disbursed, with most of this occurring in the last two years.

Domestic “grey” financing for agriculture and forestry in deforestation countries is estimated to total USD 135 billion; while domestic financing for REDD+ activities totals only USD 10.1 billion. 

To date, at least USD 683 million in funding capital has been committed by public-private investment funds to support the adoption of sustainable land practices. 

More than 86 percent of the 150 financial institutions providing the largest amount of finance to commodity companies have no deforestation policy in place for the companies they finance.

Key Messages

Over the last two years, disbursement of results-based finance has seen significant growth, with between USD 230-260 million being disbursed annually. 40 percent of commitments have now been disbursed.

Finance channeled to forests through carbon markets is significant in volume, equal to USD 2.5 billion over the last 20 years.

Private-sector demand for forest carbon credits is gaining momentum. However, it is unclear how the COVID-19 outbreak will impact this demand.

Many domestic compliance schemes allow the use of carbon credits from forest projects or programs.

Key Messages

Weak legal frameworks and institutions continue to pose significant challenges to forest protection in tropical forest countries.

Improvements in halting corruption and improving enforcement have also been limited. Illegalities continue to drive deforestation, especially where commercial agriculture is causing forest conversion.

While policies continue to be adopted to safeguard the participation of non-state actors in decision-making as well as their access to information, it is unclear how effectively they are being implemented.

While the recognition of the rights of Indigenous peoples and other local communities to their lands and resources has improved internationally, a significant share of community lands remains unrecognized by national laws.