how much we’re failing our forests and sets out exactly what needs to be done to bring them back to life.
Forests are essential for nature, people, and a stable climate – in the UK and around the world.
Deforestation is increasing, forest wildlife is declining, and people's livelihoods are being destroyed. ️At a time when they need us the most, we are failing our precious forests.
The report comes just two years on from pledges made at COP26 to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Since the global pledge to end deforestation by 2030 was made, an area of tropical rainforest twice the size of Wales has been lost.
Globally we spend at least 100 times more public funding on subsidies and incentives that have the potential to harm forests ($378 billion - $1trillion) than on positive finance for forests ($2.2bn). The report brings together the stories of where progress is being made and defines for the first time the pathways we need to build to stop destroying forests and meet global commitments.
There is hope. But we must act now to save our forests and bring our world back to life.
FORESTS ARE NOT THRIVING
They are one of our strongest allies in the fight against climate change, but the world is failing forests.
Forests suck up one third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, are home to 80% of the world’s land-based animal and plant species, and provide livelihoods for 1.6 billion people. The need for us to protect forests is the basis for many international pledges and targets. Yet, deforestation and forest degradation have continued.
We do not need new global forest goals to protect and restore our forests. We need to put into action the goals we already have. We must tackle the systemic threats to forests, deliver the funding needed to protect and restore them, and bring national policies in line with global commitments.
The pathways to meeting forest goals are known, but progress is slow and small-scale. We must change this. Failing against forest targets will have catastrophic impacts for people, including locking us into a world of dangerous climate change.
