PROGRESS ON THE NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS

The October 2021 Goal 7 Progress Report on the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) assesses government actions to enhance climate change mitigation through forests. While it concludes that Goal 7—confirming the role of forests in the international climate agenda via the Paris Agreement—has been achieved, it warns that overall progress toward ending forest loss and GHG emissions by 2030 is insufficient. The report outlines six strategic areas for government action: strengthening governance, securing Indigenous and local community rights, aligning economic incentives, promoting multistakeholder collaboration, improving monitoring, and expanding demand-side measures for forest-risk commodities.

• Goal 7 of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) has been met because the Paris Agreement formally recognized the importance of forests within the global climate agenda. However, the report notes that it is currently too early to evaluate the progress of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) since countries will only report their progress under the Paris Agreement in a few years.
• Despite some progress—including over 50 national-scale REDD+ programs and more than 100 governments with robust forest monitoring systems—global efforts are insufficient to stop deforestation. Current trends for emissions in all sectors, including forests, are moving in the wrong direction, and the sustained reductions required to meet the 2030 NYDF target are considered highly unlikely in the near term.
• Forest mitigation goals are hindered by a global economic system based on infinite production and consumption, where forests are treated as reservoirs for minerals, metals, and agricultural land. This system benefits wealthy populations in the Global North and emerging economy elites while pushing poor and vulnerable local communities further into forests or urban settlements.
• Many governments lack quantitative forest-related mitigation targets in their NDCs, and those that do exist are often not ambitious enough or are dependent on international finance. The report recommends that countries support capacity building for NDC focal points and research into feasible mitigation potentials using both global spatial and national context-specific data.
• Current financial flows for forest mitigation are a 'miniscule fraction' of what is required. The report calls for the 'greening' of 'grey' finance by reforming subsidies that drive deforestation and requiring both public and private actors to disclose the forest risks and benefits of their investments, including those made abroad.
• The report emphasizes that securing the land rights and tenure of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) is central to climate mitigation. It recommends dismantling laws that threaten IPLC rights, prioritizing customary land registration, and enforcing free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) on all communal lands.
• To address the drivers of deforestation, the report suggests six core strategies for governments: strengthening land use governance, securing IPLC rights, aligning fiscal incentives with climate goals, promoting inclusive multistakeholder collaboration, ensuring robust monitoring and accounting (aligned with national GHG inventories), and expanding demand-side measures in importing countries to restrict deforestation-risk commodities.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2021). PROGRESS ON THE NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021NYDFReport_Recs_EN.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. PROGRESS ON THE NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS. 2021. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021NYDFReport_Recs_EN.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=PROGRESS ON THE NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS |date=October 2021 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021NYDFReport_Recs_EN.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment2021progress, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{PROGRESS ON THE NEW YORK DECLARATION ON FORESTS}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021NYDFReport_Recs_EN.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }