NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS PROGRESS ASSESSMENT GOALS SUMMARY

The 2018 New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) Progress Assessment Goals Summary reports that the world is not on track to meet Goal 1, which aims to halve the rate of natural forest loss globally by 2020 and end it by 2030. While net forest loss has declined when accounting for regrowth, gross tree cover loss has increased, and tropical deforestation emissions have risen, peaking in 2016.

• The global community is not on track to achieve the NYDF Goal 1 milestone of reducing natural forest loss by 50 percent by 2020. Satellite data indicates that the average annual rate of global gross tree cover loss increased by more than one-third between 2014 and 2016 when compared to the 2001-2013 baseline. The year 2016 recorded the highest global tree cover loss since measurements began in 2000, representing a 51 percent increase over 2015 levels.
• Tropical deforestation emissions are increasing, with average annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2014 to 2016 being 25 percent higher than the 2001-2013 baseline. In 2016, emissions from tropical deforestation exceeded the total emissions from the European Union's entire economic activity, reaching a peak of 5 gigatons of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (Gt CO e).
• Significant drivers of forest loss include the expansion of agricultural commodities, specifically soy in Latin America and palm oil in Southeast Asia. Additionally, a strong El Niño event in 2015 caused unprecedented wildfires and droughts. In Indonesia, peatland fires in late 2015 contributed an additional 0.4 Gt CO e in emissions.
• There is a divergence between gross and net forest loss trends. While gross loss is rising, the average rate of net forest loss (which accounts for regrowth) declined by 23 percent between 2010 and 2015 compared to the 2000-2010 baseline. However, the report notes that newly planted or regenerated trees are unlikely to offset carbon emissions from natural forests and differ in biodiversity and ecosystem function.
• Brazil and Indonesia accounted for more than one-quarter of all global tree cover loss in 2016. In the Brazilian Amazon, deforestation rates in 2016 were 29 percent higher than in 2015, reversing a decade of steep reductions.

APA

Harris, N. (2018). NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS PROGRESS ASSESSMENT GOALS SUMMARY. Forest Declaration Assessment. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2017Goal1.pdf

Chicago

Harris, Nancy. NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS PROGRESS ASSESSMENT GOALS SUMMARY. Forest Declaration Assessment, 2018. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2017Goal1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Harris |first1=Nancy |title=NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS PROGRESS ASSESSMENT GOALS SUMMARY |publisher=Forest Declaration Assessment |date=2018 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2017Goal1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{harris2018new, author = {Harris, Nancy}, title = {{NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS PROGRESS ASSESSMENT GOALS SUMMARY}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2018}, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2017Goal1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }