Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Technical Annexes

This technical annex assesses the progress of Goal 6 of the New York Declaration on Forests, which sought the inclusion of ambitious, quantitative 2030 forest conservation and restoration targets within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report evaluates the SDGs adopted in September 2015, specifically Target 15.2, finding that while the goal to halt deforestation is highly ambitious and quantifiable, the targets for forest restoration and reforestation lack quantitative metrics.

• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in September 2015 include a target to "halt deforestation" by 2020. This is considered a quantifiable forest conservation target as it seeks a reduction of global deforestation to 0% by 2020.
• The SDG target to halt deforestation by 2020 is more ambitious than Goal 1 of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), which aims to halve the rate of natural forest loss globally by 2020 and halt it by 2030.
• The SDG target for halting deforestation does not specify 'natural' forests, unlike the NYDF and Aichi Biodiversity Targets. The report suggests this should be interpreted as 'zero gross deforestation' rather than 'net deforestation'.
• The SDGs failed to include quantifiable targets for forest restoration and reforestation. The target to "restore degraded forests" and the goal to "substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally" are both deemed non-quantifiable.
• The lack of quantitative restoration targets in the SDGs is described as unambitious compared to the NYDF, the Bonn Challenge, and the Aichi Targets, all of which include quantifiable restoration goals.
• There is a gap in the implementation framework as current proposed indicators from the Inter-Agency and Expert Group (IAEG) do not include specific indicators for measuring deforestation, restoration, or reforestation.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2015). Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Technical Annexes. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2015Goal6.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Technical Annexes. 2015. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2015Goal6.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Technical Annexes |date=November 2015 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2015Goal6.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment2015progress, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Technical Annexes}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2015Goal6.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }