Economic development models that rely on infrastructure development and resource extraction are difficult to reconcile with the need to protect and restore forest areas due to differing priorities amongst key actors.
Demand for mined materials and oil and gas is expected to significantly grow in the next decades, increasing the risk of forest loss. Meanwhile, intact forest areas in the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and Indonesia are at risk of deforestation and fragmentation due to planned infrastructure development and new mining and oil and gas project developments.
The trend of changing the status of protected areas to facilitate new infrastructure development continues to place forests at risk.
Recent years have seen an increase in high-level support for protecting forests and biodiversity from destruction due to economic activities. For example, in November 2018, the UN Biodiversity Conference adopted a long-term strategy to mainstream biodiversity management into economic sectors such as mining, energy, and infrastructure. The World Bank has also developed a Forest-Smart Mining initiative and, in May 2019, announced a Climate-Smart Mining Facility to promote best practices in forest-friendly extraction.
Communities and local NGOs have teamed up with multilateral organizations to increase awareness on the destruction of forests by mining activities. Often relying on a discourse of rights for indigenous peoples and local communities, these efforts have achieved legal victories in some countries while facing opposition and further threats in many others.
The Forest Declaration Assessment and the Forest Declaration Platform have been supported over the years by the Climate and Land Use Alliance, the Good Energies Foundation, the Bezos Earth Fund, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) of Germany, and the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), which supported this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.
This project is supported by the Climate and Land Use Alliance and the Good Energies Foundation. Research that contributed to this project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.
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