2020 NYDF Progress Assessment Report: Balancing forests and development

The 2020 NYDF Progress Assessment report focuses on Goals 3 and 4, two complementary goals crucial to achieving sustainable development:

• Goal 3. Significantly reduce deforestation derived from other economic sectors by 2020.
• Goal 4. Support alternatives to deforestation driven by basic needs (such as subsistence farming and reliance on woodfuel for energy) in ways that alleviate poverty and promote sustainable and equitable development.

Goals 3 and 4, which have not previously been assessed in-depth, cover a wide range of activities that can lead to deforestation and forest degradation, from large-scale infrastructure and extractive industries (Goal 3) to small-scale encroachment of forests that is driven by poverty, including smallholder farming for subsistence and commercial agriculture, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), woodfuel collection, and charcoal-making (Goal 4).

2020 crucial year for NYDF as forest loss increased rather than halved

2020 is a crucial year for review of and reflection on forest goals for the NYDF and the global community. Rather than halving since 2014—a 2020 target in NYDF Goal 1—the rate of natural forest loss has increased. Ending natural forest loss by 2030 will require a rapid paradigm shift by the global community towards valuing forests for their essential benefits and prioritizing
their protection.

Goals 3 and 4, which have not previously been assessed in-depth, cover a wide range of activities that can lead to deforestation and forest degradation, from large-scale infrastructure and extractive industries (Goal 3) to small-scale encroachment of forests that is driven by poverty, including smallholder farming for subsistence and commercial agriculture, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), woodfuel collection, and charcoal-making (Goal 4).

Report presents findings on progress made and barriers to progress

The report presents findings on progress made – or not made – by actors who play key roles in determining the forest outcomes of development planning and publications, including governments of forest countries, private-sector companies, financial actors (private finance and international donors), and grassroots movements, Indigenous peoples, and local communities.

The report also outlines four strategies that, if pursued by the above actors, would contribute to the achievement of Goals 3 & 4:

Strategy 1: Embrace alternative development pathways that reduce over-exploitation, inefficient production, and excessive consumption of resources;

Strategy 2: Align macroeconomic and strategic planning with forest goals;

Strategy 3: Apply the ‘mitigation hierarchy’ to effectively minimize forest impacts from infrastructure publications and extractive industries;

Strategy 4: Apply the ‘PRIME framework’ to promote sustainable livelihoods and address deforestation.

Finally, the report closes with an analysis of barriers to progress – underlying factors that inhibit success, even as many stakeholders make real efforts to effect change. The paradigm of consumption and exploitation is deeply entrenched in our society. If NYDF endorsers and the global community intend to reach Goals 3 and 4, they need to urgently step up their efforts to manage trade-offs and capitalize on synergies between forest protection and sustainable development.

Read the full report on Goals 3 and 4 as well as updates on all goals and all previous reports at forestdeclaration.org.