Forest Declaration Assessment

The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment finds that no global indicator is currently on track to meet the 2030 goals of stopping forest loss and restoring 350 million hectares of landscape. While Tropical Asia is the only region on track to halt deforestation, global rates declined only modestly by 6.3% in 2021 compared to the 2018-20 baseline. The report highlights a critical funding gap, noting that annual mitigation finance for forests is less than 1% of the estimated USD 460 billion needed. It further identifies failures in the private sector to eliminate deforestation from agricultural supply chains by 2025 and notes that 50% of lands held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities remain legally unrecognized.

• The world is not on track to meet the 2030 goals of halting deforestation and restoring 350 million hectares of forest landscape, as no global indicator is currently on course. To completely halt deforestation by 2030, a 10% annual reduction is required, but the global rate declined by only 6.3% in 2021 relative to the 2018-20 baseline. Tropical Asia is the only region currently on track to meet the 2030 goal.
• Progress toward eliminating deforestation from agricultural supply chains by 2025 is insufficient. Commodity-driven tree cover loss fell by 6% in 2021 compared to 2018-20, but rates remain higher than any year before 2016 and are not meeting the required 20% annual reduction trajectory. Only 25% of major global companies in the sector have comprehensive policies to eliminate deforestation, and fewer than 20% of companies disclosing to CDP report near complete compliance.
• There is a massive deficit in forest finance; protecting and restoring forests globally could cost up to USD 460 billion per year, yet current domestic and international mitigation finance averages only USD 2.3 billion annually. While 2021 pledges could quadruple annual finance to USD 9.5 billion by 2025, this still falls short of needs by up to 50 times. Public sector 'grey' (harmful) finance flows to agriculture and forest sectors totaled at least USD 257 billion domestically and USD 13 billion internationally from 2010-20.
• Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs) are severely underfunded despite their effectiveness as forest stewards. Only 1.4% of total public climate finance in 2019-20 targeted their needs, and only 3% of the annual financial need for transformational tenure reform is met. Furthermore, at least 50% of lands and territories held by IPs and LCs lack legal recognition.
• Forest governance remains insufficient to curb deforestation, although specific tools like moratoria and strengthened enforcement have historically worked in countries such as Indonesia, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guyana, and Brazil. However, some gains have been reversed, particularly in Brazil. While the EU, Australia, Vietnam, and China are developing demand-side regulations for forest-risk commodities, these are often in early stages or lack sufficient detail.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2022). Forest Declaration Assessment. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022FDAExecSummary-1.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. Forest Declaration Assessment. 2022. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022FDAExecSummary-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=Forest Declaration Assessment |date=October 2022 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022FDAExecSummary-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment2022forest, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022FDAExecSummary-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }