Global leaders are now 63% off target to end deforestation by 2030, a new Forest Declaration Assessment has declared, after it found that 8.1 million hectares of forest were permanently lost in 2024 — half the size of England. Wood Central understands that loss exceeded the annual limit compatible with the 2030 goal by 3.1 million hectares and outpaced the rate recorded in 2021, when governments renewed commitments first made in 2014, underscoring a widening gap ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
“Every year, the gap between commitments and reality grows wider, with devastating impacts on people, the climate and our economies. Forests are non-negotiable infrastructure for a livable planet. Continued failure to protect them puts our collective prosperity at risk,” said Erin Matson, a lead author of this year’s Forest Declaration Assessment. “We already know what works to stop forest loss, but countries, companies, and investors are only scratching the surface. And even those initial efforts are facing strong pushback from the standard bearers of an economic system built on forest destruction.”
The assessment, produced by a coalition of civil society and research organisations, tracks pledges by countries, companies and investors to eliminate deforestation and restore 350 million hectares of degraded land by 2030. It measures reductions in forest loss against a 2018–2020 baseline and evaluates progress under the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use (2021) and the Kunming‑Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022).
The report finds remote and pristine tropical forests fared particularly poorly in 2024. Devastating fires destroyed 6.73 million hectares as they ripped through Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, leaving leaders 190% off track from protecting these carbon‑rich forests and releasing an estimated 3.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Fires — most of which are intentionally set to clear land and therefore preventable — were also a significant factor in soaring degradation in 2024. Combined with logging, road construction and fuelwood collection, degradation damaged but did not fully clear 8.8 million hectares of moist tropical forest. Degradation often precedes full clearance and yields significant carbon emissions; leaders are 234% off track from halting it.
“Degradation — including the devastating impacts of forest fires — is pushing forests closer to dangerous tipping points by undermining the very ecological functions they depend on for survival,” said Ivan Palmegiani, biodiversity and land use consultant at Climate Focus. “Research shows that degraded forests are more likely to be deforested, providing a hint of the losses to come. Yet, because forest degradation is harder to track than outright forest clearance, its dynamics often go undetected or poorly reported. Policymakers must bring degradation into focus to truly safeguard forests and the vital services they provide.”
In the Amazon region, emissions linked to fires reached an estimated 791 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (Mt CO2e) in 2024 — seven times the average of the previous two years (117 Mt CO2e) and more than the total greenhouse‑gas emissions of many industrialised countries.
On restoration, the report finds active reforestation initiatives cover at least 10.6 million hectares of deforested and degraded land — about 5.4% of global reforestation potential and only 0.3% of the broader biophysical restoration potential — falling far short of the 30% target set in the Kunming‑Montreal framework. Roughly two‑thirds of this area (about seven million hectares) is in tropical regions, 3.3 million hectares are in temperate zones, and 250,000 hectares are in boreal forests.
The assessment identifies clearing for agriculture — crops, timber and livestock — as responsible for about 85% of forest loss over the last decade. It also highlights a profound finance gap: international public finance for forest protection averaged just USD 5.9 billion per year, while the report estimates USD 117–299 billion is needed annually by 2030. At the same time, large‑scale industrial agriculture benefits from about USD 409 billion in subsidies per year, meaning public funding for forest protection is roughly 1.4% of harmful agricultural subsidies.
“Efforts to protect forests don’t stand a chance as long as our economic system keeps rewarding quick profits from forest destruction,” said Franziska Haupt, partner at Climate Focus. “Too often we see only surface‑level solutions — such as tree‑planting campaigns or voluntary commitments with no follow‑through — that look good on paper but do nothing to change the underlying system.”
“When leaders do make genuine efforts to stop forest loss, whether through supply chain engagement or passing a new regulation, they often do so in isolation. Progress can unravel with the next political or economic shift. To truly tackle deforestation, leaders must work collectively to implement bold, binding reforms that will transform the system that still generously rewards forest loss. Isolated successes won’t be enough; we need lasting, systemic change.”
The report notes several initiatives under discussion at COP30 that could help close the funding gap. Brazil’s proposed Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) is designed to de‑risk private investment in tropical forests and could unlock billions in long‑term funding.
“Thirty-four countries have shown leadership by recently launching a Forest Finance Roadmap for Action, which echoes a similar call from civil society to align finance and forest goals by targeting structural barriers, like harmful subsidies and sovereign debt,” said Jillian Gladstone, lead consultant at Climate Focus. “A renewal of the Forest Tenure Funding Pledge would also signal a sustained commitment to direct crucial funding to the Indigenous and local communities who manage most of the world’s intact forests.”
Across tropical regions, governments and communities are also stepping up. Brazil has rolled out national cattle traceability systems to support supply‑chain accountability. In 2025, the Democratic Republic of Congo adopted its first national land‑use planning law, recognising customary community land rights and introducing environmental safeguards across much of the Congo Basin. The Escazú Agreement has now been ratified by 18 Latin American countries, and Uruguay and Chile have advanced national implementation plans to strengthen environmental transparency and protections for environmental defenders. New Indigenous‑ and community‑led funds are beginning to scale and channel resources to local forest guardians.
“Brazil’s recent progress in rolling back deforestation under the leadership of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva shows how determined leadership can deliver rapid results,” said Kerstin Canby, senior director of Forest Trends’ Forest Policy, Trade, and Finance Initiative. “As the host of COP30, Brazil is also pushing other countries to focus on implementing existing pledges instead of announcing new commitments they will not deliver on in time to stabilise the climate.”
“The overall numbers are dismal, but the future of forests doesn’t have to be,” said Matson. “This year’s report makes it clear that isolated solutions are never going to be enough. But new finance initiatives such as the Tropical Forest Forever Facility offer a path to transformative change. If COP30 delivers on its promise, we could be reporting a very different story next year — one of real progress.”
