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The document calls for the recognition of the link between the climate crisis and violence against environmental defenders. It proposes specific actions within the Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) plan and the Global Stocktake to protect defenders' rights to information and participation, while urging COP host governments to guarantee freedom of assembly for civil society observers.

The 2022 Regional Assessment for the Congo Basin reveals that while deforestation rates have historically been low, there was a 4.9% increase in forest loss in 2021 compared to the 2018-2020 period. Only Gabon and the Republic of the Congo are currently on track to meet the 10% annual reduction in forest cover loss required to reach the 2030 goal of zero deforestation. The report identifies subsistence agriculture as the primary driver of deforestation, while industrial mining, logging, and commercial agriculture pose the greatest risks to core intact forests. Despite the existence of legal frameworks and community forest laws in several countries, implementation is hindered by weak governance, lack of tenure security for indigenous peoples and local communities, and contradictory sectoral laws. Financial commitments, including USD 1.5 billion pledged by international donors between 2021 and 2025, are deemed insufficient to meet the region's needs, with the land sector needs of Cameroon and the DRC alone estimated at US$29.8 billion for 2020-30.

The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment for the Congo Basin reports a rise in deforestation in 2021, with 636,000 hectares lost, meaning only Gabon and the Republic of the Congo are currently aligned with the trajectory to end deforestation by 2030. While the region is a critical carbon sink, absorbing 0.61 Gt CO2eq annually, it faces threats from small-scale agriculture, industrial mining, and weak land tenure security. Despite international pledges of 1.5 billion USD (2021-2025) and national legal frameworks, the report highlights significant gaps in law enforcement, intersectoral policy alignment, and funding for indigenous peoples and local communities.

The 2022 Regional Assessment of the Congo Basin reveals that while the region is a critical global carbon sink, deforestation increased in 2021 by 4.9% compared to the 2018-20 period. Only Gabon and the Republic of the Congo are currently aligned with the trajectory to end deforestation by 2030. The report identifies subsistence agriculture and infrastructure development as primary drivers, while noting that industrial mining and logging cause the most severe damage to intact core forests. Despite the existence of legal frameworks and international funding commitments, such as the USD 1.5 billion Joint Declaration for the Congo Basin, the report highlights significant gaps in policy enforcement, land tenure security for Indigenous peoples and local communities, and the alignment of economic development plans with forest conservation goals.

The document outlines a framework for high-integrity benefit-sharing mechanisms (BSMs) in forest-based nature-based solutions. It organizes 12 principles under four values: Impartiality, Accountability, Rights-based approach, and Effectiveness. These principles aim to prevent elite capture and corruption while ensuring that Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) receive fair, transparent, and additive benefits that outweigh the costs of participation.

The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment finds that no global indicator is currently on track to meet the 2030 targets for stopping forest loss and restoring 350 million hectares of ecosystems. While Tropical Asia is the only region on track to stop deforestation by 2030, global forest loss still exceeds gains, resulting in a net loss of 100 million hectares. The report highlights critical gaps in sustainable production, where commodity-driven tree cover loss decreased by only 6% in 2021, and in finance, where current annual funding of $2.3 billion is less than 1% of the estimated $460 billion needed. Governance remains a significant hurdle, with at least 50% of lands held by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) lacking legal recognition. The document calls for a shift from voluntary corporate actions to mandatory regulations, a 200-fold increase in forest funding, and the strengthening of land tenure rights for IPLCs.

The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment concludes that the world is not on track to meet its 2030 forest goals. While Tropical Asia is the only region currently on track to halt deforestation, global rates of forest loss and degradation remain too high, and financial investments are less than 1% of the required amount. The report highlights a gap between ambitious national goals and actual implementation, noting that voluntary corporate actions have been insufficient and that indigenous peoples and local communities remain severely underfunded despite their effectiveness as forest guardians.

The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment finds that the world is not on track to meet its 2030 forest goals. While some progress is noted in Tropical Asia, global forest loss remains high, and funding is critically insufficient, reaching less than 1% of the estimated annual requirement. The report emphasizes that voluntary corporate and government commitments have failed to shift the trajectory significantly, calling for mandatory regulations, increased direct funding for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), and stronger governance to prevent further degradation.

The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment finds that no global indicator is currently on track to meet the 2030 goals of halting forest loss and degradation or restoring 350 million hectares of landscape. While Tropical Asia is the only region on track to stop deforestation, global primary forest loss decreased by only 3.1% in humid tropics. Financial investment for forests is critically insufficient, with current mitigation funding at US$ 2.3 billion per year—less than 1% of the estimated US$ 460 billion needed annually. Corporate action to eliminate deforestation from agricultural supply chains by 2025 is lagging, and governance remains weak, with at least 50% of lands occupied by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPCs and LCs) lacking legal recognition.

The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment finds that no global indicator is currently on track to meet the 2030 goals of halting forest loss and restoring 350 million hectares of landscape. While Tropical Asia is on track to halt deforestation, other regions like Tropical Latin America and Africa are not. The report highlights a massive funding gap, with current mitigation finance at less than 1% of the estimated USD 460 billion annual need. It also notes that commodity-driven deforestation declined by 6% in 2021 but remains far from the trajectory needed for the 2025 private sector target. Governance remains a critical weakness, with persistent tenure insecurity for Indigenous Peoples and local communities and widespread corruption in the timber trade.

The 2022 Theme 2 Assessment of the Forest Declaration finds that the world is not on track to meet 2030 forest goals or 2025 zero-deforestation targets for agricultural supply chains. While commodity-driven tree cover loss declined by 6% in 2021 compared to 2018-20, rates remain higher than in any year before 2016. The report highlights a significant gap between government 'green growth' agendas and actual investment, noting that trillions of dollars are mobilized for infrastructure like the Belt and Road Initiative while global public investments in forest goals are only USD 2.3 billion per year. In the private sector, only a quarter of major agricultural companies have ambitious policies to eliminate deforestation, and less than 20% of companies disclosing to CDP report near full compliance. The extractives sector shows even lower transparency and a lack of explicit forest-focused policies. Grassroots resistance, led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities, has achieved some successes, such as a temporary moratorium on new concessions in Ecuador, but defenders face high rates of violence, with over 200 killed in 2021.

The Center for International Environmental Law, FIAN International, and Earthjustice criticize the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee for failing to conduct meaningful consultations with Indigenous Peoples' organizations and rural communities regarding a study on 'new technologies for climate protection'. The organizations argue that the term is 'deliberately vague' compared to the established term 'geoengineering' and that the study's current outline is biased by assuming the benefits of such technologies rather than objectively analyzing their 'profound, large-scale, foreseeable and irreversible human rights impacts'.

In 2025, Global Witness verified the killings of 124 land and environmental defenders, continuing a trend of lethal violence primarily concentrated in Latin America. The report identifies land disputes and extractive projects as primary drivers, with a significant increase in the role of organized crime and hitmen. It highlights the vulnerability of Indigenous peoples and small-scale farmers, who comprise 75% of the victims. The document argues against individual-focused security models, instead promoting 'collective protection'—community-led systems like Indigenous Guards—and calls for the ratification of the Escazú Agreement and the repeal of laws used to criminalize activism.

A randomized control trial in the Peruvian Amazon demonstrated that Indigenous communities using Global Forest Watch satellite alerts reduced deforestation rates by 52% in the first year and 21% in the second year compared to a control group. The system, which costs approximately $6 per hectare annually, empowers local monitors to detect illegal clearing and coordinate community responses.

The briefing explores the use of the Sapelli platform to enable indigenous people in Ethiopia's Lower Omo region, regardless of literacy levels, to create digital maps of their territories. By co-designing a pictorial interface, six collaborators from the Nyangatom community recorded over 1,700 map contributions between August 2021 and August 2022, including grazing areas and water sources. The resulting 'land-user generated maps' provided significantly more detail and density than machine-generated or standard user-generated maps, though the authors note that the utility of such data for defending land claims depends on the willingness of legal systems to accept citizen-generated evidence.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) outlines a framework of ten 'guard rails' to ensure that the voluntary use of nature-based solution (NBS) carbon credits supports the 1.5°C warming limit and protects biodiversity and human rights. The guidance distinguishes between using credits to 'counterbalance' unabated emissions—which requires a science-based reduction pathway—and using them to 'contribute' to a jurisdiction's climate mitigation. WRI emphasizes a shift from project-level to jurisdictional-scale REDD+ credits and mandates transparent reporting aligned with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

The Managing Watersheds for Enhanced Resilience of Communities to Climate Change in Nepal (MaWRiN) project aims to reduce vulnerability to landslides, floods, and droughts in the Marin watershed, Sindhuli district. With a total cost of USD 36,657,417, the project focuses on mainstreaming climate change adaptation (CCA) into local policies, transferring climate-resilient agricultural and livestock technologies, and implementing nature-based solutions (NbS) across six critical catchment areas. The project specifically targets indigenous populations, who make up 68.5% of the area, and addresses systemic barriers such as high poverty (43%) and limited institutional coordination between municipalities.

The document examines the role of Indigenous Peoples as stewards of 80% of the world's remaining biodiversity and their historical struggle for recognition within the United Nations and multilateral environmental agreements. It highlights the tension between Western commodified views of nature and Indigenous holistic perspectives, noting that while instruments like the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol have made strides in recognizing traditional knowledge, climate frameworks like the UNFCCC and initiatives like REDD+ continue to marginalize Indigenous voices and rights. The brief concludes that achieving global sustainability requires moving beyond tokenism to respect Indigenous self-determination and leadership.

The report synthesizes evidence from the GCF-1 period, finding that while the institution has established its functional architecture, it continues to struggle with slow accreditation processes, limited direct access for national entities, and poor quality in results measurement and reporting. It highlights a lack of a formal accreditation strategy and persistent policy gaps at the Board level. While the portfolio is growing, most projects are still in early implementation stages, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded existing delays. The report identifies the need for a more strategic approach to paradigm shifts and the mobilization of private sector finance, noting that current results reporting lacks credibility due to inconsistent methodologies.

The project aims to secure a contiguous area of approximately 1.88 million hectares in southern Guyana through four main components: strengthening the management and infrastructure of the Kanuku Mountains Protected Area (KMPA), developing a participatory integrated management strategy for the North Rupununi Wetlands (NRW), revising the national Protected Areas Act to address legislative gaps, and coordinating with the wider Amazon Sustainable Landscapes (ASL) program. The initiative focuses on balancing productive activities like forestry and agriculture with biodiversity conservation and hydrological connectivity, while ensuring the rights and livelihoods of Indigenous Makushi and Wapishana communities.