Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 4 Assessment

The report examines the drivers of basic-needs deforestation, such as subsistence farming and woodfuel collection, and evaluates interventions like formalization, clean cooking technology, and REDD+ funding. It highlights the difficulty of measuring progress due to data gaps and emphasizes that successful interventions require social safeguards and good governance to protect livelihoods while reducing forest loss.

• Measuring progress toward Goal 4 is hindered by a lack of data on how poverty and sustainable development interventions specifically impact forests, as most such programs do not track forest-related outcomes.
• The most prevalent basic-needs activities driving forest loss are wood harvesting and small-scale crop production, with regional variations: shifting agriculture causes 93 percent of tree cover loss in Africa compared to 24 percent in Latin America.
• Socioeconomic pressures, including a lack of non-forest livelihood alternatives, population growth, and insecure land tenure, drive unsustainable forest use. In the Congo Basin, small-scale forest clearing for agriculture accounts for 84 percent of forest-loss area.
• Formalization of informal activities can reduce forest loss if combined with secure property rights and good governance, but poorly implemented formalization may lead to negative outcomes, such as turning informal producers into illegal operators.
• Clean cooking technologies can reduce fuel use by 30-60 percent, relieving pressure on forests. While financing increased by 36 percent from 2016 to USD 40 million in 2017, this represents only 1 percent of the USD 4 billion needed for universal access by 2030.
• Artisanal and small-scale mining is increasing in areas like the Peruvian Amazon, where it caused nearly 100,000 hectares of deforestation between 1984 and 2017, with 53 percent of that loss occurring since 2011.
• Under REDD+ programs, 16 countries have committed roughly USD 3.5 billion to support livelihood alternatives to basic-needs forest loss, though these funds have not yet been distributed as programs have not gone into effect.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2019). Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 4 Assessment. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal4.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 4 Assessment. 2019. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal4.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests Goal 4 Assessment |date=September 2019 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal4.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 4 Assessment}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019NYDFGoal4.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }