Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 1 Assessment

This technical annex assesses progress toward Goal 1 of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), which aims to halve natural forest loss globally by 2020 and end it by 2030. The report finds that the world is not on track to meet these targets, as average annual global gross tree cover loss and carbon emissions from tropical forests increased between 2014 and 2018 compared to historical baselines, despite a decline in loss observed in 2018.

• The world is not on track to meet the NYDF Goal 1 target of halving natural forest loss by 2020. Between 2014 and 2018, the average annual global gross tree cover loss increased by 43 percent, or 7.8 million hectares per year, compared to the 2001-2013 baseline, rising from 18.3 million to 26.1 million hectares per year.
• Carbon dioxide emissions from tropical tree cover loss have increased significantly since the signing of the NYDF. Average annual emissions rose from 3.0 to 4.7 gigatons of CO2 per year, representing a 57 percent increase. Emissions from the loss of humid tropical primary forests specifically increased by 48 percent, from 1.4 to 2.1 gigatons of CO2 per year.
• Tropical Africa has experienced the highest percentage increase in tree cover loss post-NYDF, with an annual average loss in 2014-2018 that was 146 percent higher than in 2001-2013 (an increase of 2.6 Mha/yr). In the Congo Basin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, and Cameroon lost 7.6 million hectares of tree cover between 2014 and 2018, primarily driven by subsistence and small-scale commercial farmers.
• Brazil remains a primary deforestation hotspot in Latin America, losing 18 million hectares of tree cover since 2014, largely due to commercial cattle and soy agriculture. Other Latin American countries seeing increased annual tree cover loss since 2014 include Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, and Paraguay, while Argentina saw a decline.
• Indonesia has seen a significant reduction in forest loss in 2017 and 2018, with primary forest loss in 2018 dropping to its lowest rate since 2003. This follows a period since 2002 where Indonesia lost 9.2 million hectares of humid primary forests, driven primarily by palm oil plantations (23%) and fires (20%).
• The average annual rate of humid tropical primary forest loss increased by 44 percent between 2014 and 2018 compared to the 2002-2013 baseline, rising from 3.0 to 4.3 million hectares per year. The highest absolute losses occurred in Latin America (2.35 Mha/yr), Asia (1.13 Mha/yr), and Africa (0.76 Mha/yr).

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2019). Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 1 Assessment. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal1.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 1 Assessment. 2019. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 1 Assessment |date=September 2019 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment2019progress, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 1 Assessment}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }