Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests

The 2016 NYDF Progress Assessment indicates a complex trend where annual net forest loss is declining, but gross tree cover loss remains steady or increasing. While corporate commitments to deforestation-free supply chains are growing, particularly for palm oil and wood, cattle and soy remain under-addressed. Restoration pledges under the Bonn Challenge and UNFCCC have increased significantly, and the Paris Agreement has formally integrated land-use and REDD+ into global climate mitigation. However, financial disbursements for results-based payments lag behind pledges, and forest governance remains a critical challenge, evidenced by a record number of killings of land and environment defenders in 2015.

• Global annual net loss of natural forest area decreased by 25% in 2015 compared to a 2000–10 baseline, but the annual gross rate of tree clearing increased by 9% between 2011-14 compared to a 2001-10 baseline.
• Corporate commitments to eliminate deforestation from supply chains increased to 415 companies from 307 in the previous year, with the highest coverage in palm oil (59%) and wood products (53%), while cattle (12%) and soy (21%) are significantly less addressed.
• Forest restoration pledges have grown, with the Bonn Challenge reaching 38 entities committing to restore 124.3 million hectares, and UNFCCC INDCs containing land sector targets estimated at 161.6 million hectares.
• The 2015 Paris Agreement formally integrated land-use and REDD+ into the global mitigation framework through Article 5, signaling the central role of forests in climate mitigation.
• Public financial support for forest emissions reduction has increased, with combined bilateral and multilateral ODA rising from US$548 million in 2013 to US$739 million in 2014, driven largely by the UK, Japan, and Germany.
• Results-based finance (RBF) for forest emissions reductions saw pledges grow by over US$6.4 billion since 2014, but actual disbursements lagged at US$440 million, with Norway's NICFI providing the majority of funds.
• The forest carbon market expanded from US$152 million in 2013 to US$762 million in 2015, with volumes increasing from 25 MtCO2e to just under 88 MtCO2e, largely due to the Australian Emissions Reduction Fund.
• Forest governance and the rule of law face severe challenges, with 2015 being the worst year on record for killings of land and environment defenders, with 181 recorded deaths.
• Efforts to reduce deforestation from basic needs focused on clean cookstoves, with nearly 20 million new cookstoves and fuels distributed in 2014, though financing for these interventions remained flat.

APA

Streck, C., Haupt, F., Roe, S., Behm, K., Conway, D., Schulte, I., & Kroeger, A. (2016). Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests. Forest Declaration Assessment. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2016NYDFGoal1-10Updates_Full.pdf

Chicago

Streck, Charlotte, Franziska Haupt, Stephanie Roe, Katharina Behm, Darragh Conway, Ingrid Schulte, and Alan Kroeger. Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests. Forest Declaration Assessment, 2016. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2016NYDFGoal1-10Updates_Full.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Streck |first1=Charlotte |last2=Haupt |first2=Franziska |last3=Roe |first3=Stephanie |last4=Behm |first4=Katharina |last5=Conway |first5=Darragh |last6=Schulte |first6=Ingrid |last7=Kroeger |first7=Alan |title=Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests |publisher=Forest Declaration Assessment |date=November 2016 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2016NYDFGoal1-10Updates_Full.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{streck2016progress, author = {Streck, Charlotte and Haupt, Franziska and Roe, Stephanie and Behm, Katharina and Conway, Darragh and Schulte, Ingrid and Kroeger, Alan}, title = {{Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2016}, month = nov, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2016NYDFGoal1-10Updates_Full.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }