New York Declaration on Forests

List of endorsers of Declaration

Q&A on Declaration

 

 

 

On September 23, 2014, at the Climate Summit in New York, a coalition of over 150, including 32 national governments, 18 sub-national governments, 40 companies, 16 Indigenous Peoples groups, and 49 NGOs/CSOs, endorsed the New York Declaration on Forests with the shared goal of ending natural forest loss by 2030.

The FCPF is working with eight forest countries on large-scale emission reductions programs and building public-private partnerships with companies to take action on the collective commitments of the New York Declaration on Forests.

Commitments on Forestry Become Actions on the Ground

• New York Declaration on Forests commits to halve the rate of natural forest loss by 2020, and to strive to end natural forest loss by 2030.  
• Germany, Norway, and the UK pledged to fund up to 20 more large-scale programs implemented through the FCPF and the BioCarbon Fund, as well as bilateral means.

As demand for natural resources rises, so does the pressure to cut down trees and clear land.  The World Bank is working with governments and building public-private partnerships with companies to turn the commitments to protect the world’s forests outlined at the UN Climate Summit in New York into collective action globally.   From October 6-8, Indonesia, Guatemala and Peru were selected into pipeline of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Carbon Fund with proposals for large-scale forest programs to reduce emissions from forest loss. Emission reduction programs under the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and BioCarbon Fund, as well as huge investment programs under the Forest Investment Program (FIP), are underway in Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal, Republic of Congo, Vietnam, and Zambia. 

Large-scale forest programs have the power to effect change that can make the ambitious goals from the September 23, 2014 UN Climate Summit’s New York Declaration on Forests a reality.  For the first time in history a critical coalition of heads of governments, CEOs of companies, and leaders of Indigenous Peoples and civil society came together at the UN Climate Summit with the shared goal of ending natural forest loss against a concrete timeline.  The main commitment spelled out in the Declaration is to halve the rate of natural forest loss by 2020, and to strive to end natural forest loss by 2030.  

At the Summit, bi-lateral and multi-lateral pledges on forestry totaled more than $450 million. Germany, Norway, and the UK pledged to fund up to 20 more large-scale programs implemented through the FCPF and the BioCarbon Fund, as well as bilateral means. Norway also pledged up to $150 million until 2020 for the development of a deforestation-free agriculture sector in Liberia, channeled through the BioCarbon Fund. Working with Peru Norway committed up to $300 million to pay for results from reducing forest emissions.

The country programs supported by the World Bank’s forest and landscape funds not only engage the various actors across the landscape, including agriculture, energy, transportation, land, mining and forestry, they also support the national level political process necessary to implement such large-scale programs.

Speaking at the Forest Pavilion, a forestry-related ancillary forum at the Climate Summit, on behalf of the other large-scale programs supported by the World Bank’s forest and landscape funds, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) shared its forest action plan for a 12.3 million-hectare program in the country’s Maï-Ndombe region.   The program aims to address the main drivers of deforestation: slash and burn agriculture, charcoal production, and logging.  The Government of DRC is highly committed to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, also known as REDD+ as a lever for green growth development.

The Forest Area Plenary was a forum for contributions from leading public and private sector forestry stakeholders to complement the formidable activity at the Forest Pavilion.  Cargill’s CEO, David MacLennan, announced the foundation of a new initiative with the BioCarbon Fund in Zambia working with cotton farmers to develop smarter land use practices.

The World Bank’s forest and landscape funds, partnering with fellow endorsers of the New York Declaration on Forests, have been spurred into action to carry out the collective commitments. This momentum will support forestry leaders and stakeholders as they look ahead to the climate negotiations in Lima leading up to United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP21, in Paris in 2015.