2024 FOREST DECLARATION ASSESSMENT

The Technical Annexes of the 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment provide the definitions, terminology, and methodologies used to track progress toward the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use. The document details how the assessment measures deforestation, forest degradation, restoration, and biodiversity impacts using satellite data and global indices, establishing a linear reduction pathway to reach zero deforestation by 2030.

• The assessment uses a 'gross zero' interpretation of the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, which aims to "halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030". To achieve this, the report establishes a linear reduction pathway from a 2018-2020 baseline, requiring a "10 percent reduction in loss relative to the baseline" each year from 2021 to 2030.
• Deforestation is defined as tree cover loss that results in "permanent conversion of forest to a new land use", specifically including losses attributed to "urbanization" and the "production of agricultural commodities". The assessment notes that in areas where commodity-driven deforestation has recently declined, current rates may be "overestimated" due to high levels of such deforestation earlier in the period.
• Forest degradation is tracked using different indicators based on region. In tropical moist forests, it is defined as cover where disturbances were observed over a period "shorter than 2.5 years". Globally, the Forest Landscape Integrity Index (FLII) tracks ecological integrity; the assessment uses revised provisional ranges where "low integrity" is FLII ≤ 7.0, "medium integrity" is FLII > 7.0 and < 9.8, and "high integrity forests" are FLII ≥ 9.8.
• The assessment identifies several specific forest restoration methods, including 'Nucleation', which creates "small patches or "nuclei" of restored vegetation" to act as sources for natural regeneration, and 'Enrichment', which introduces "species from the late successional stages" into areas with low plant diversity.
• To evaluate biodiversity impacts, the assessment monitors 7,025 "forested KBAs" (Key Biodiversity Areas). These are sites of global significance that support at least one "forest-dependent species"—defined as any species for which 'Forest' is a suitable habitat in the IUCN Red List.
• Gross greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from forest loss are estimated by combining carbon stock maps from 2000 with data on tree cover loss and gain. These estimates include "aboveground carbon, belowground carbon, deadwood and litter carbon, as well as soil organic carbon", and incorporate emissions from "forest fires" and "peat drainage".

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2024). 2024 FOREST DECLARATION ASSESSMENT. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024AnnexesAB.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. 2024 FOREST DECLARATION ASSESSMENT. 2024. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024AnnexesAB.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=2024 FOREST DECLARATION ASSESSMENT |date=2024 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024AnnexesAB.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment20242024, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{2024 FOREST DECLARATION ASSESSMENT}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2024}, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024AnnexesAB.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }