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The document highlights the need for significant new finance and improved forest governance to end natural forest loss and restore degraded lands. It specifically examines the risks that infrastructure and extractive industries, driven by the global transition to low-carbon technologies, pose to forests, drawing on data from the CDP's forest module and the NYDF Goal 3 progress assessment.

The document outlines the goals of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDf), noting that the target to halve deforestation by 2020 was not met. It identifies key drivers of forest loss, including large-scale infrastructure, extractive industries, and specific agricultural commodities, while highlighting the gap between conservation commitments and financial investments. Despite these challenges, it notes progress in Paris Agreement updates and the adoption of anti-deforestation measures by major consumer markets.

The document outlines the objectives of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDf), noting that the 2020 goal to halve deforestation was not met. It identifies key drivers of forest loss, including agricultural commodities and extractive industries, while highlighting the role of financial institutions and the importance of indigenous peoples in forest conservation. Despite challenges, it notes progress through the Paris Agreement and demand-side measures in major consumer markets.

The document reports that the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) failed to meet its 2020 target of halving deforestation, with 10 million hectares of forest lost annually. It identifies drivers of loss including commodity agriculture, extractive industries, and a lack of deforestation policies in nearly two-thirds of the top 150 financial institutions. While noting progress through the Paris Agreement and demand-side measures in markets like the EU, US, UK, and China, it emphasizes the need for alternative development pathways and the inclusion of Indigenous peoples as forest stewards.

The document outlines the objectives of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDf), noting that the 2020 target to halve deforestation was not met. It identifies drivers of forest loss, such as global commodity demand and extractive industries, while highlighting the role of financial institutions and the necessity of empowering Indigenous peoples and local communities to achieve climate solutions.

The document outlines the objectives of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), noting that the goal to halve deforestation by 2020 was not met. It identifies key drivers of forest loss, such as large-scale infrastructure, extractive industries, and specific agricultural commodities, while highlighting the role of indigenous peoples as forest guardians. The text calls for urgent systemic change, increased financial transparency, and the implementation of alternative development models to protect forests as a climate solution.

The world is off track to meet 2025 and 2030 forest goals, with commodity-driven deforestation increasing by 5.6% in 2022. While some leading agricultural companies and governments (notably the EU) are taking action, overall impact is limited by low political priority, insufficient corporate transparency in extractives, and systemic risks to environmental defenders.

The policy brief examines the nature of China's energy investments in Africa, contrasting upstream extractive projects with downstream power generation. It highlights a problematic bias toward large-scale hydroelectric dams, which the author suggests may be a way for China to export its own domestic overcapacity in dam building while ignoring environmental and geopolitical risks. The document calls for African agency in agenda-setting to transition toward greener technologies like solar and fuel cells, ensuring that investments create local jobs and support structural transformation rather than merely facilitating resource export.

The Climate Change Act establishes a regulatory framework for decarbonisation in South Africa's extractives sector, mandating sector-specific emissions targets, carbon budgets, and reporting. While the mining industry is vital to the economy, it is a major GHG contributor, with 85% of emissions linked to the coal value chain. The report highlights challenges such as enforcement gaps, resource limitations for monitoring, and the high capital cost of transitioning. It emphasizes that compliance is a strategic necessity for maintaining export market access, particularly regarding EU CBAM requirements. The Green Transport Strategy (2017-2050) is identified as a key tool for reducing logistics emissions by shifting from road to rail. A case study of Anglo American illustrates effective adaptation through green hydrogen trucks and internal carbon pricing. Successful implementation requires collaboration between government, mining companies, investors, and civil society to ensure a just transition.

The report examines the complex security landscape in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, where large-scale investments in LNG, rubies, and graphite coexist with a violent insurgency. It identifies a 'hybrid security environment' comprising the Mozambican Republican Police (PRM), Mozambique Defense Armed Forces (FADM), community-based Força Locale, Rwandan Security Forces (RSF), and Private Security Companies (PSCs). The analysis highlights systemic human rights abuses by national forces, the relative effectiveness and trust associated with Rwandan forces, and the governance risks inherent in the private security sector. It concludes that uneven security provision—prioritising commercial assets over rural populations—fuels local grievances and instability, recommending standardised human rights due diligence and formalised public-private coordination.

The report establishes a positive correlation between inclusive governance—measured by Voice & Accountability (VA) scores—and broad-based development, measured by the Human Development Index (HDI), across global, continental, and regional scales. It argues that accountable governance fosters political stability and consistent policymaking, which in turn sustains economic dynamism. Using Angola as a case study, the document illustrates how the repression of participation and human rights abuses can lead to the stagnation or reversal of human development outcomes. The report concludes that private sector companies have a financial and reputational incentive to support inclusive governance, anti-corruption policies, and civil society capacity building to mitigate 'above-ground risk' and secure long-term investments.

The report examines the insurgency in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, led by Alu Sunna Wa-Jama (ASWJ). It argues that the group's growth is driven by a combination of radical Wahhabist ideology, deep-seated ethnic tensions between the Mwani and Makonde groups, and systemic economic marginalisation linked to the extractive industries. The document further details how ASWJ leverages and profits from a thriving illicit economy involving drug, wildlife, and gemstone trafficking, often facilitated by corruption within the Mozambican political establishment. It concludes that heavy-handed military responses have alienated the population and recommends a holistic strategy focusing on inclusive governance, wealth distribution, and community dialogue.

Global Witness reports that 196 land and environmental defenders were murdered in 2023, bringing the total since 2012 to 2,106. The report highlights Latin America as the most dangerous region, with Colombia recording the highest number of deaths. It identifies mining as the primary sector linked to these killings and details a global trend of 'judicial harassment' and restrictive anti-protest laws in the UK, US, and EU. The document emphasizes the disproportionate targeting of Indigenous peoples and calls for the implementation of the Escazú Agreement and better corporate due diligence.

A Global Witness investigation warns that the rehabilitation of the Lobito Corridor railway in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) threatens low-income residents of Kolwezi with forced evictions. The report highlights a critical gap in legal protections, as the project is governed by the 1977 Law of Expropriation for Public Utility—which only requires compensation—rather than the more stringent 2002 Mining Code. Legal ambiguities regarding land titles, particularly those involving the national rail company (SNCC), and disputes over the width of the railway's buffer zone further expose residents to displacement. The report argues that the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) could provide a mechanism for accountability for companies like Trafigura and Mota-Engil, provided the law is not weakened by proposed amendments. It concludes with recommendations for the EU, the DRC government, and investors to implement meaningful consultations, independent monitoring, and higher resettlement standards.

The guide outlines three primary strategies for engaging Chinese companies in the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI): demonstrating the financial and risk-reduction benefits of compliance, localizing communications and materials into the Chinese language, and utilizing political dialogue with the Chinese government to secure official recognition. It emphasizes that Chinese firms, including state-owned enterprises, are increasingly responsive to global market dynamics and international regulatory pressures, such as disclosure rules from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Commission. The author suggests that EITI could mirror the successful entry strategy of the UN Global Compact in China by leveraging bilateral relationships and existing corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs.

A Global Witness investigation alleges that Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals (FQM) has engaged in a decades-long covert influence campaign in Zambia, including the alleged funding of President Hakainde Hichilema's party (UPND). The report claims this relationship resulted in significant tax breaks for FQM and other mining firms, totaling an estimated $771 million in savings for FQM between 2022 and 2025. The investigation further details the role of the Brenthurst Foundation and SABI Strategy in shaping economic policy and managing disinformation campaigns to support Hichilema's political rise and retention of power.

The document outlines three priority areas for the U.S. administration: promoting transparency in the extractive industries through the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and legislative disclosure, strengthening anti-money laundering frameworks to prevent the looting of state funds, and breaking the link between the mineral trade and conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Global Witness calls for the acceleration of the Escazú Agreement's implementation to combat the high rate of killings of environmental and land defenders in Latin America. The region accounts for two-thirds of global murders of such defenders. The document highlights specific failures and progress in countries like Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil, urging governments to ensure justice and companies to perform due diligence in extractive projects to prevent further violence.

Global Witness reports that 200 land and environmental defenders were murdered in 2021, contributing to a ten-year total of 1,733 killings. The report identifies land inequality, corruption, and shrinking civic space as primary drivers of this violence, with Indigenous peoples disproportionately targeted. Analysis focuses on high-risk regions including Latin America, where over three-quarters of 2021 attacks occurred, and specific countries like Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and the Philippines. The document advocates for the implementation of the Escazú Agreement and the strengthening of the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive to end corporate impunity.

The document highlights the ongoing state-led intimidation and violence against the Garífuna people in Honduras, specifically citing the July 2020 abduction of four men from the community of Triunfo de la Cruz. It describes a pattern of harassment and criminalization used to displace Indigenous people for commercial interests, such as luxury tourist developments. The text emphasizes that Honduras was the most dangerous country per capita for land and environmental defenders in 2019 and asserts that protecting Indigenous territorial rights is essential for global biodiversity and climate crisis mitigation.