Summary for Policymakers: 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment

The 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment finds that the world is off track to meet 2030 forest goals, with 6.37 million hectares of forest permanently lost in 2023. Deforestation is primarily driven by commodity production, including agriculture and mining, with significant demand from industrialized nations like China, the EU, and the U.S. While some progress has been made in forest law enforcement and the establishment of protected areas, the report highlights a massive gap between 'green' and 'gray' finance, noting that environmentally harmful subsidies reach USD 2.6 trillion annually. The assessment emphasizes the critical need for rights-based governance and direct funding for Indigenous Peoples and local communities to ensure sustainable forest management.

• The world is failing to meet its 2030 targets to halt and reverse deforestation and degradation. In 2023, 6.37 million hectares of forest were permanently lost globally, and regional targets were missed in nearly all tropical regions. Tropical Asia saw a spike in deforestation to 1.83 million hectares in 2023, while temperate Africa experienced a nearly six-fold increase in deforestation compared to 2018-20 baseline levels.
• Primary forests and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are being destroyed at rates exceeding the targets required to meet 2030 goals. In 2023, the loss of humid tropical primary forests was 38 percent higher than necessary to stay on track. Additionally, over 1.4 million hectares of forests within forested KBAs were lost, which is 19 percent higher than the target trajectory.
• Commodity production is the primary driver of global deforestation, with agricultural products and mining playing central roles. Seven agricultural commodities accounted for 57 percent of all deforestation between 2001 and 2018. Mining-induced deforestation was significantly driven by coal, which accounted for 34 percent of such loss from 2001-19. Industrialized markets, specifically China and the EU, were responsible for approximately 40 percent of deforestation embodied in the direct trade of agricultural commodities from 2020-22.
• There is a severe imbalance between 'green' forest finance and 'gray' finance that supports harmful activities. While international green forest finance commitments for 2021-25 total USD 30.03 billion, governments spent only USD 2.4 billion per year on green forest finance since 2010. In contrast, gray finance reached up to USD 1 trillion per year in the same period, and 2024 estimates suggest USD 2.6 trillion per year in environmentally harmful subsidies.
• Funding for Indigenous Peoples (IPs), local communities (LCs), and Afro-descendant peoples (ADPs) has increased but remains insufficient and difficult to access. Disbursements averaged USD 517 million per year from 2020-23, a 36 percent increase over the previous four years. However, direct access remains limited; a 2016-20 analysis showed only 0.6 percent of philanthropic giving benefited IPs and 0.3 percent went to Indigenous governments or organizations.
• Forest governance shows mixed results, with some improvements in protected areas and law enforcement countered by ongoing rights violations. Global protected areas reached 302,934 by August 2024. While countries like Brazil, Colombia, the U.S., Australia, and Portugal improved law enforcement, others saw setbacks, such as weakened regulations in India and a diluted definition of forest degradation in Canada. Land tenure recognition remains slow, with reported forced evictions in Tanzania and infringement on IP territories in Cambodia.

APA

Forest Declaration Assessment (2024). Summary for Policymakers: 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024SummaryforPolicymakers.pdf

Chicago

Forest Declaration Assessment. Summary for Policymakers: 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment. 2024. https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024SummaryforPolicymakers.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Forest Declaration Assessment |title=Summary for Policymakers: 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment |date=2024 |url=https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024SummaryforPolicymakers.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{forestdeclarationassessment2024summary, author = {{Forest Declaration Assessment}}, title = {{Summary for Policymakers: 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment}}, institution = {Forest Declaration Assessment}, year = {2024}, url = {https://forestdeclaration.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024SummaryforPolicymakers.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }