OVERARCHING FOREST GOALS

The world is off track to meet its 2030 forest goals, with global deforestation increasing by 4% in 2022. While some non-tropical regions met their targets, all tropical regions missed theirs, with Tropical Latin America and the Caribbean being the farthest off track. Primary tropical forest loss and emissions from deforestation also increased, while biodiversity continues to decline at an alarming rate. Forest restoration efforts remain fragmented and lack transparency, and forest degradation continues to pose a significant threat globally.

• The world is off track to eliminate deforestation by 2030, with 6.6 million hectares deforested in 2022, representing a 4 percent increase compared to 2021.
• All tropical regions missed their 2022 deforestation targets. Tropical Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) was the most off track, with deforestation 35 percent higher than the target, while Tropical Asia was the closest, missing its target by only 1 percent.
• Progress in non-tropical regions was mixed, with North America, non-tropical Asia, and non-tropical Africa meeting their 2022 deforestation targets, while non-tropical LAC saw a 31 percent increase from baseline levels.
• The world is off track to eliminate primary forest loss, with 4.1 million hectares of humid tropical primary forests lost in 2022, which is 33 percent higher than the target.
• Gross emissions from deforestation increased by 6 percent compared to 2021, totaling 4 billion metric tons of CO2e in 2022.
• Forest degradation remains a significant threat; while the global rate showed a slight decline between 2020-21 compared to the 2018-20 baseline, degradation increased sharply in tropical and non-tropical Latin America and non-tropical Africa.
• Tracking progress on the goal to restore 350 million hectares of forest by 2030 is hindered by a lack of transparency, with only 18 countries reporting restoration efforts under the Bonn Challenge.
• Forest biodiversity is declining rapidly, with the Forest Specialists Index showing a 79 percent decline in monitored populations of forest specialist species between 1970 and 2018.
• Tropical forests hold over 60 percent of the global forest carbon stock (aboveground biomass), totaling 157.37 billion metric tons of carbon out of a global total of 250.24 billion metric tons.
• Tree cover loss within forested Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) decreased by 30 percent from the 2018-20 baseline to 1.2 million hectares in 2022, though most regions remain off track for the 2030 goal.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (n.d.). OVERARCHING FOREST GOALS. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023Theme1.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. OVERARCHING FOREST GOALS. n.d. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023Theme1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=OVERARCHING FOREST GOALS |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023Theme1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessmentndoverarching, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{OVERARCHING FOREST GOALS}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023Theme1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }