Balancing Forests and Development

This executive summary of the 2020 NYDF Progress Assessment report evaluates global efforts to end forest loss caused by infrastructure, mining, and extractive industries (Goal 3) and to support sustainable livelihoods for forest-dependent communities and smallholders (Goal 4). The document highlights a disconnect between high-level forest goals and the reality of increasing natural forest loss, noting that top-down development projects often threaten intact tropical forests without providing significant benefits to local populations.

• Large-scale infrastructure and extractive industry development are increasing across tropical forest regions, driven by growing demand for fossil fuels and mined minerals, which threatens highly biodiverse forests.
• Despite the growth of extractive industries and infrastructure, top-down development plans generally fail to invest in sustainable local economies or provide commensurate benefits to local communities.
• While some governments have aligned national policies and macroeconomic planning with forest goals, the actual implementation and enforcement of these policies are slow, and some existing environmental protections are being reversed.
• Corporate transparency regarding forest impacts remains limited, and company-led support for local communities and small-scale supply chain actors fails to address structural vulnerabilities.
• Financial institutions and donors have established safeguards and principles to manage environmental and social risks, but implementation is flawed, and funding for poverty alleviation that reduces deforestation is minimal compared to non-forest-aligned investments.
• Progress toward NYDF Goals 3 and 4 is blocked by systemic barriers, including a lack of transparency that hinders accountability and a reliance in the Global North on commodities from developing economies produced via deforestation.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2020). Balancing Forests and Development. https://forestdeclaration.org/resources/balancing-forests-and-development-2020-nydf-executive-summary/

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. Balancing Forests and Development. 2020. https://forestdeclaration.org/resources/balancing-forests-and-development-2020-nydf-executive-summary/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=Balancing Forests and Development |date=2020 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/resources/balancing-forests-and-development-2020-nydf-executive-summary/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment2020balancing, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{Balancing Forests and Development}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2020}, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/resources/balancing-forests-and-development-2020-nydf-executive-summary/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }