Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 2 Assessment Technical Annex to the Five-Year Assessment Report

This technical annex assesses progress toward the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) Goal 2, which aims to eliminate deforestation from agricultural commodity production (palm oil, soy, paper, and beef) by 2020. The report finds that current efforts by governments and companies are insufficient to meet this target, noting a stagnation in new corporate commitments and significant gaps in reporting, transparency, and the inclusion of indirect suppliers.

• Current efforts by governments and companies are insufficient to eliminate deforestation from agricultural commodity production by 2020. The number of companies making commitments to reduce or eliminate deforestation has barely increased in the last two years, with a particular lack of commitments regarding cattle and soy.
• Commodity production drove 27 percent of all global forest loss between 2001 and 2015, totaling 72 million hectares. Southeast Asia and South America are the primary hotspots, with commodity production driving 61 percent and 64 percent of forest loss in those regions, respectively. Palm oil is the main driver in Malaysia and Indonesia, while cattle grazing and soy are the primary causes in South America.
• Corporate commitments vary significantly by commodity; palm oil has the highest share of commitments and more ambitious targets. As of May 2019, only 12 percent of companies assessed by Forest 500 have a zero- or zero-net-deforestation commitment applying to all sourced commodities. In contrast, 51 percent of companies exposed to palm oil have a commitment, compared to only 17 percent for soy and 12 percent for cattle.
• Implementation of commitments is hindered by a reliance on self-reported data and limited independent verification. While 81 to 94 percent of companies with commitments had traceability systems in 2018, the effectiveness of these systems varies, and fewer companies can trace products back to the point of origin, often failing to include indirect suppliers.
• Certification adoption is most prevalent in palm oil, timber, and paper, but less so in soy and cattle. In the soy supply chain, volumes of soy certified under the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS)—the only standard with a zero-deforestation criterion—remain below one percent globally, despite a 28 percent increase in certified volumes in 2018.
• Financial institutions are lagging in their efforts to address deforestation risks. An assessment of the 150 largest financial institutions financing companies in forest-risk commodity supply chains found that 65 percent have no commitments for any of the forest-risk commodities they finance.
• There is a growing momentum toward 'jurisdictional approaches' in producer countries, which treat sustainability as a holistic landscape-level effort. Examples include IDH’s Verified Sourcing Areas (piloted in Brazil and Indonesia), Verra’s Landscape Sustainable Production Standard (piloted in several countries including Mexico and Kenya), and Mato Grosso’s Produce, Conserve and Include (PCI) approach in Brazil.
• Consumer governments are implementing demand-side measures to curb imported deforestation. The US Lacey Act and EU Timber Regulation target illegal logging. France has introduced due diligence legislation for environmental damage, and California passed the California Deforestation-Free Procurement Act requiring state contractors to demonstrate deforestation-free supply chains for risk commodities.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2019). Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 2 Assessment Technical Annex to the Five-Year Assessment Report. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal2.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 2 Assessment Technical Annex to the Five-Year Assessment Report. 2019. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 2 Assessment Technical Annex to the Five-Year Assessment Report |date=September 2019 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal2.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 2 Assessment Technical Annex to the Five-Year Assessment Report}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }