2020 Goal 1 assessment

Key Messages

• According to all indicators, 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 – our most straightforward indicator for estimating permanent loss of natural forests as a result of land use conversion – is currently around 10 million hectares per year, according to multiple data sources. 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. For each year we do not reduce loss by sufficient amounts, we must make even larger reductions in following years to achieve our target.
• The sustained reductions in forest loss needed to achieve the 2030 target would be unprecedented and are highly unlikely. All assessment indicators show either insufficient progress towards ending forest loss and associated greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 or that we are moving further from the targets. For example, not only are we not close to halving forest loss, but humid tropical primary forest loss is well above pre-NYDF levels, with an average of 41 percent more loss each year after the NYDF was signed than before.