In 2014, the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) was adopted as a political declaration calling for the end of natural forest loss and the restoration of 350 million hectares of degraded landscapes and forestlands by 2030. It was endorsed by nearly 200 governments, multinational companies, Indigenous Peoples, and civil society organizations.
Three years later, in 2017, the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) Global Platform was founded. Serving as a dedicated multi-stakeholder platform to re-invigorate political endorsement of the global forest goals and facilitate collaboration across stakeholders, the Global Platform stands as one of the world’s most comprehensive multi-stakeholder frameworks for forest action.
As the intermediate 2020 target of the NYDF to halve deforestation and stop deforestation from agricultural commodities approached, deforestation rates around the globe continued to rise. In response, the NYDF Global Platform launched a participatory “refresh” process in 2020, renewing the Declaration and catalyzing a shift from commitment to collective action towards meeting the NYDF goals.
Then, in 2021, at the UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow, leaders from around the globe announced the Glasgow World Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use – a commitment aligned with NYDF to end global deforestation by 2030, endorsed by over 140 countries and covering roughly 90% of global forests.
The Glasgow Leaders Declaration reaffirmed the need for swift forest action and strengthened the political commitment to meet the 2030 target. Adjusting its vision to this new political context, the newly named Forest Declaration Platform has now broadened its scope to support public and private stakeholders to take action on forest pledges made in New York in 2014, Glasgow in 2021, and beyond.
Programming Overview
The Forest Declaration Platform has three main objectives:
- Enable accountability by independent & critical civil society voices on progress towards global forest pledges through the Forest Declaration Assessment
- Scale up and accelerate action by providing support and delivery mechanisms at regional and national levels
- Foster political ambition of global leaders through increased collaboration and action
Area of Focus
The Forest Declaration Platform will cover and, through the independent Forest Declaration Assessment, assess four thematic areas of global forest commitments:
- Overarching goals for forest conservation and restoration – Halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030
- Sustainable production and development – Eliminate deforestation from agricultural commodities and significantly reduce deforestation from infrastructure and extractive industries
- Forest finance – Significantly increase finance and investment to align financial flows with international forest goals
- Governance – Strengthen Forest governance, transparency, and rule of law, recognizing the rights of Indigenous Peoples, women, and youth.
