Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests

The report establishes a monitoring framework for the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), assessing ten goals related to halting deforestation, restoring landscapes, and improving governance. While it notes that 'overall progress remains slow', it identifies positive trends such as the inclusion of a deforestation target in the Sustainable Development Goals and an increase in clean cookstove distribution. The document highlights significant data gaps, particularly regarding non-agricultural drivers of deforestation and domestic public spending on forests, while noting that 'data are mostly trending in the right direction'.

• Global natural forest loss shows diverging trends: while the annual net loss of natural forest area appears to be declining, there is no evidence that the annual rate of gross clearing or harvesting is slowing.
• Progress in eliminating deforestation from agricultural commodities varies by sector: certified sustainable palm oil reached 18% of the global market by 2013, and half of forests providing wood fiber for paper are certified, but certified sustainable soy represents only 2% of the global market.
• Non-agricultural drivers of tropical deforestation between 2000 and 2010 included infrastructure and human settlements (each responsible for 10%) and mining (7%), while timber extraction and logging caused approximately 52% of total forest degradation.
• Efforts to reduce deforestation driven by basic needs have seen rapid growth in clean cookstove distribution, with global investments peaking at US$260 million in 2014.
• Forest restoration pledges are currently below the 2020 and 2030 targets: the Bonn Challenge has commitments for 62.6 million hectares (about 42% of the 2020 target), and UNFCCC INDCs include about 122 million hectares (about 35% of the 2030 target).
• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in September 2015 include a quantitative target to halt deforestation by 2020, but they lack a quantitative target for forest restoration.
• International financial support for reducing forest emissions has increased, with bilateral ODA for developing countries rising from an annual average of US$365 million (2002-07) to US$744 million (2008-13), with 2014 commitments potentially exceeding US$1 billion.
• Performance-based REDD+ payments saw over US$3 billion committed between 2008 and 2014, though actual disbursements lagged at just over US$1 billion.
• The forest carbon market peaked at US$237 million in 2011 before declining to approximately US$150 million in 2013.
• Recognized rights for indigenous peoples and local communities over forests increased by over one-third between 2002 and 2013, although the rate of legal recognition has slowed since 2008.

APA

Conway, D., Keenlyside, P., Roe, S., Streck, C., Vargas-Victoria, G., & Varns, T. (2015). Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests. Forest Declaration Assessment. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2015NYDFReport.pdf

Chicago

Conway, Darragh, Paul Keenlyside, Stephanie Roe, Charlotte Streck, Gustavo Vargas-Victoria, and Theo Varns. Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests. Forest Declaration Assessment, 2015. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2015NYDFReport.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Conway |first1=Darragh |last2=Keenlyside |first2=Paul |last3=Roe |first3=Stephanie |last4=Streck |first4=Charlotte |last5=Vargas-Victoria |first5=Gustavo |last6=Varns |first6=Theo |title=Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests |publisher=Forest Declaration Assessment |date=November 2015 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2015NYDFReport.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{conway2015progress, author = {Conway, Darragh and Keenlyside, Paul and Roe, Stephanie and Streck, Charlotte and Vargas-Victoria, Gustavo and Varns, Theo}, title = {{Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2015}, month = nov, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2015NYDFReport.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }