Overarching forest goals

The October 2022 Theme 1 report by the Forest Declaration Assessment evaluates global progress toward two primary 2030 goals: ending the loss and degradation of natural forests and restoring 350 million hectares of degraded landscapes and forestlands. The report concludes that no global indicator is currently on track to meet these targets, though it identifies regional variations and specific country successes.

• No global indicator is currently on track to meet the 2030 goals of halting forest loss and degradation or restoring 350 million hectares of forest landscape.
• To achieve zero gross deforestation by 2030, a 10 percent annual reduction in the deforestation rate is required. In 2021, the global deforestation rate declined by only 6.3 percent compared to the 2018-2020 baseline, falling short of the target.
• Tropical Asia is the only region currently on track to halt deforestation and humid tropical primary forest loss by 2030, having experienced five consecutive years of decreasing primary forest loss.
• Global gross deforestation in 2021 was 6.8 million hectares, resulting in 3.9 GtCO2e of greenhouse gas emissions. Brazil remains the largest global contributor to deforestation.
• Humid tropical primary forest loss decreased by 3.1 percent in 2021 compared to the 2018-2020 baseline. This decline is slower than the overall global deforestation decline of 6.3 percent.
• Global greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in 2021 were 3.9 GtCO2e, a 5.5 percent decrease from the 2018-2020 baseline. This is below the 10 percent annual reduction required for the 2030 target.
• Forest degradation, measured by the Forest Landscape Integrity Index (FLII), continues globally and in all regions. However, the global rate of degradation slowed in 2020-21 to a loss of 0.058 FLII points, which roughly aligns with the annual target.
• Between 2000 and 2020, global tree cover increased by approximately 130.9 million hectares, but this was offset by 231.4 million hectares of loss, resulting in a net global loss of 100.5 million hectares.
• The global cost-effective mitigation potential for restoration from 2020 to 2050 is 36.252 billion tCO2e, with a cost-effective area of opportunity of 295.1 million hectares. Latin America and the Caribbean hold the largest regional potential at 32.8% of the global total.
• Specific country successes include Indonesia, which is on track for its 2030 goal due to palm oil moratoriums and corporate commitments, and Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where deforestation decreased by 13 percent and 47 percent respectively in 2021.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2022). Overarching forest goals. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022Theme1.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. Overarching forest goals. 2022. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022Theme1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=Overarching forest goals |date=October 2022 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022Theme1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment2022overarching, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{Overarching forest goals}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022Theme1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }