2023 FOREST DECLARATION ASSESSMENT

The 2023 Forest Declaration Assessment finds that while global protected area coverage is increasing, significant gaps remain in the legal recognition of Indigenous and local community lands, with 1.375 billion hectares still unrecognized. The report highlights a sharp contrast in Brazil, where political leadership under President Lula da Silva led to a 42% drop in Amazon deforestation in early 2022, while other regions face high risks of illegal logging due to corruption. It notes the emergence of demand-side measures like the EU's Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) and a global rise in climate litigation to protect forests. However, environmental defenders remain the most targeted human rights defenders, with 194 killings recorded in 2022.

• Global terrestrial protected area coverage has steadily increased over the last twelve years, though some countries are simultaneously downgrading, downsizing, or degazetting these areas. For example, China plans a national park system covering 1.1 million square kilometers by 2035, while India's proposed Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2023 could leave 15% of its forests vulnerable to exploitation.
• The legal recognition of land rights for Indigenous Peoples (IPs), Afro-descendant Peoples, and Local Communities (LCs) remains insufficient globally. At least 1.375 billion hectares of lands with customary or historic claims have not been legally recognized by national governments.
• Political leadership and enforcement investments have significantly reduced deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, where rates dropped 42% in the first seven months of 2022. This reversed the trend of the previous administration's dismantling of enforcement agencies.
• Environmental and Indigenous rights defenders are the most targeted category of human rights defenders. In 2022, 194 such defenders were killed across 15 countries, with Colombia being the deadliest country, recording 88 murders.
• The European Union introduced the Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) in June 2023, the first government organization to implement demand-side measures that explicitly apply to industrial logging in the Global North by addressing the conversion of primary forests to planted forests.
• Corruption and weak governance continue to drive high risks of illegal logging and deforestation in many tropical countries. The global cost of corruption in the forestry sector is estimated by INTERPOL to be approximately USD 29 billion annually.
• There is a growing trend of using judicial systems to protect forests, with climate change court cases more than doubling globally since 2017. This includes public interest litigation in Brazil and legal victories against mining in Ecuador's Intag Valley.
• Boreal and temperate forest countries, including Canada, the United States, and Northern European countries, continue to permit intensive forest management practices, such as clearcutting of primary and old-growth forests, despite international biodiversity commitments.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2023). 2023 FOREST DECLARATION ASSESSMENT. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023Theme4_low-res.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. 2023 FOREST DECLARATION ASSESSMENT. 2023. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023Theme4_low-res.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=2023 FOREST DECLARATION ASSESSMENT |date=2023 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023Theme4_low-res.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment20232023, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{2023 FOREST DECLARATION ASSESSMENT}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2023}, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023Theme4_low-res.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }