The Forest Declaration Assessment

The 2023 Forest Declaration Assessment finds the world is off track to eliminate deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. In 2022, global gross deforestation reached 6.6 million hectares, a 4% increase from 2021. While some countries like Indonesia and Malaysia show progress, massive losses continue in tropical Latin America and the Caribbean. The report highlights a critical funding gap, noting that 'gray' public finance (subsidies driving deforestation) vastly outweighs 'green' finance. It also emphasizes the ongoing violence against environmental defenders and the systemic lack of legal recognition for Indigenous Peoples' and local communities' land rights.

• The world is off track to eliminate deforestation by 2030; in 2022, global gross deforestation was 6.6 million hectares, which is 21 percent higher than the trajectory needed to reach the 2030 goal.
• Loss of primary tropical forests is significantly off track, with 4.1 million hectares lost in 2022, exceeding the required trajectory by 33 percent.
• Gross emissions from deforestation increased by 6 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, totaling 4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
• Tropical Latin America and the Caribbean is the tropical region farthest off track, with deforestation in 2022 being 35 percent higher than the identified target.
• Forest biodiversity is declining rapidly, with monitored populations of forest specialist species decreasing by 79 percent on average between 1970 and 2018.
• There is a massive disparity between 'gray' and 'green' public finance; between 2013-2018, gray public finance flows (agricultural subsidies) ranged from USD 378 to 635 billion per year, while green finance for forest protection averaged only USD 2.2 billion per year.
• Private financial institutions provided USD 6.1 trillion in active financing to companies most at risk of driving tropical deforestation in 2022, and two-thirds of these institutions lack a single deforestation policy.
• Indigenous Peoples and local communities are severely underfunded, with only 3 percent of the annual financial needs for transformational tenure reform being met.
• Environmental defenders, particularly Indigenous Peoples, face extreme violence; 194 environmental defenders were killed in 2022, making them the most targeted category of human rights defenders.
• A significant amount of land claimed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities remains legally unrecognized, totaling at least 1.375 billion hectares across 49 countries.
• Commodity-driven deforestation increased by 5.6 percent in 2022 compared to 2021, totaling 4.77 million hectares of permanent forest loss.
• The European Union's Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) is a landmark demand-side measure that prohibits the trade of products linked to deforestation or forest degradation, including those from the Global North.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2023). The Forest Declaration Assessment. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023ForestDeclarationAssessment3_low-res.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. The Forest Declaration Assessment. 2023. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023ForestDeclarationAssessment3_low-res.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=The Forest Declaration Assessment |date=October 2023 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023ForestDeclarationAssessment3_low-res.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment2023forest, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{The Forest Declaration Assessment}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023ForestDeclarationAssessment3_low-res.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }