Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 10 Assessment

The 2019 assessment of Goal 10 finds that global progress in forest governance remains slow, with illegality continuing to drive deforestation. While some countries like Indonesia have improved policy efforts, others have weakened protections through legislative amendments. The report highlights a critical gap between formal laws and their implementation, particularly regarding the land rights of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), who manage significant carbon stores but face high levels of violence and criminalization. Demand-side measures in the EU and France are strengthening, but private sector commitments to eliminate deforestation are largely not on track for 2020 targets.

• Global progress in strengthening forest governance is slow, and in some instances, legislative changes have actively weakened protections. For example, a 2018 amendment to the Brazilian Forest Code may allow the clearance of between 7 and 15 million hectares of protected forest, and a 2019 Russian law reducing protected spawning forest areas is expected to put 50 million hectares at risk.
• Illegality remains a primary driver of deforestation, particularly for palm oil, soy, pulp/timber, and cattle/beef. Specific recent examples include record-high deforestation from illegal gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon (over 18,400 hectares cleared in 2017-2018) and unpaid fines totaling approximately USD 1.3 billion by Indonesian plantation companies for illegal land clearing using fire.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2019). Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 10 Assessment. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal10.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 10 Assessment. 2019. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal10.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 10 Assessment |date=September 2019 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal10.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment2019progress, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 10 Assessment}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal10.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }