‘2024 Forest Declaration Assessment: Forests under fire’ Report Released | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
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‘2024 Forest Declaration Assessment: Forests under fire’ Report Released

Posted 10 Oct 2024

2 min read

Report focuses on tracking the overarching forest goals: eliminating deforestation and forest degradation, and restoring 30% of degraded forest area by 2030. 

  • These goals have been established by international commitments such as New York Declaration on Forests (2014), Glassgow Leaders’ Declaration (2021), and Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022).

Global Forest Goals and Progress 

  • Eliminate deforestation by 2030: Around 6.37 million hectares deforested in 2023 much greater than the targeted 4.38 million hectares.
    • 3.8 billion metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2023 making deforestation fourth-highest emitter after China, US and India. 
  • Eliminate tree cover loss in forested Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs): Over 1.4 million hectares of forests were lost within forested KBAs in 2023. 
  • Controlling Forest Fire: Nearly one-third of area lost to fires since 2001 was burned from 2019-23.
  • Restore 30% of degraded and deforested landscapes by 2030: Only around 18% of the Bonn Challenge’s 2020 target of 150 million hectares was restored from 2000-19.

Drivers of Deforestation 

  • Commodity Production: Agricultural commodities responsible for 57% of global deforestation over past two decades.
  • Shifting agriculture in primary forests: Responsible for loss of 15.9 million hectares of primary forests from 2015-23.
  • Mining: From 2000-19, mining volumes from tropical moist forest ecosystems doubled.

Recommendations

  • All forests need protection, but primary and intact ecosystems should be the top conservation priority.
  • Large scale efforts are necessary to restore 30% of degraded ecosystems, and to monitor and transparently report progress.
  • Governments should acknowledge altered fire patterns as a human-induced phenomenon and implement adaptive strategies accordingly.
  • KBAs and other areas identified as high integrity and high conservation value forests should be prioritized within global and national forest conservation efforts. 
  • Tags :
  • New York Declaration on Forests
  • Global Forest Goals
  • Forest
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