FORESTS IN FOCUS

This document is the first chapter of 'Forests in Focus', published by the NYDF Progress Assessment. It evaluates the progress of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), noting that the 2020 target to halve deforestation was not met and highlighting the systemic drivers of forest loss, including financial investment and commodity demand, while calling for increased transparency and the inclusion of Indigenous peoples in forest management.

• The New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), established in 2014 with over 200 endorsers, failed to meet its target of reducing deforestation by half by 2020. Global forest loss continues at a rate of 10 million hectares per year, which is an area comparable in size to Iceland.
• Deforestation is driven by a combination of commodity demand and financial systems. Seven specific agricultural commodities—cattle, palm oil, soy, cocoa, rubber, coffee, and wood fiber—are responsible for more than 50% of tree cover loss. Additionally, nearly 20% of intact tropical forest landscapes overlap with concessions for oil, gas, and mining, and almost two-thirds of the top 150 financial institutions lack deforestation policies despite investing trillions of dollars in high forest-risk companies.
• There are indicators of progress in forest conservation, including the recognition of forests as climate solutions in updated Paris Agreement pledges and the adoption of demand-side measures to reduce illegal deforestation in imports by the US, UK, China, and the EU. Furthermore, governments have committed an average of US$2.4 billion annually for forest-based climate mitigation, and progress has been made on REDD+ programs.
• To reverse forest destruction, the document argues that the rate of deforestation must be reduced by more than one million hectares per year. This requires breaking down barriers that prevent Indigenous peoples and local communities from managing ancestral territories, increasing transparency and inclusiveness in decision-making by the finance sector, companies, and governments, and adopting development pathways that value forests.

APA

Schulte, I., Matson, E. D., Manirajah, S. M., Haupt, F., Maher, R., & Cottle, S. (n.d.). FORESTS IN FOCUS. Forest Declaration Assessment. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Forests-in-Focus-Ch1.pdf

Chicago

Schulte, Ingrid, Erin D. Matson, Sanggeet Mithra Manirajah, Franziska Haupt, Robert Maher, and Sara Cottle. FORESTS IN FOCUS. Forest Declaration Assessment, n.d. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Forests-in-Focus-Ch1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Schulte |first1=Ingrid |last2=Matson |first2=Erin D. |last3=Manirajah |first3=Sanggeet Mithra |last4=Haupt |first4=Franziska |last5=Maher |first5=Robert |last6=Cottle |first6=Sara |title=FORESTS IN FOCUS |publisher=Forest Declaration Assessment |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Forests-in-Focus-Ch1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{schultendforests, author = {Schulte, Ingrid and Matson, Erin D. and Manirajah, Sanggeet Mithra and Haupt, Franziska and Maher, Robert and Cottle, Sara}, title = {{FORESTS IN FOCUS}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Forests-in-Focus-Ch1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }