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BERLIN, Germany: The world lost more than 7 million hectares of forest to deforestation in 2025, while the average annual forest loss since 2021 has exceeded 8 million hectares, leaving the world far off track to meet its 2030 forest protection targets, according to a new international assessment.
The Forest Declaration Assessment 2026, released on October 14 by a coalition of civil society organisations and researchers, found that global efforts to halt and reverse forest loss remain insufficient despite commitments by more than 140 countries.
The assessment highlights a persistent gap between international pledges and action on the ground, with agriculture, infrastructure development, extractive industries and other economic activities continuing to put pressure on forests.
Ivan Palmegiani, senior consultant at Climate Focus and one of the report’s authors, told Inter Press Service that governments had failed to match their commitments with action on the scale required to bring deforestation under control.
He cited Brazil under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as an example of how targeted policies, enforcement and political leadership can reduce forest loss, but warned that such gains can quickly be reversed when political priorities change.
Palmegiani said forests continued to face strong economic pressures, while governance systems and financial incentives often favoured powerful interests over communities that depend on forests for their livelihoods, well-being and cultural identity.
The report also found that at least 65.4 million hectares of forest worldwide lost ecological integrity in 2024 because of human activities. This deterioration can occur even when trees remain standing, as forests lose biodiversity, carbon storage capacity and their ability to support wildlife and local communities.
More than 140 countries signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use at the 2021 United Nations climate conference, pledging to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. Five years later, the assessment suggests that the world remains far from achieving that goal.
Regional progress remains uneven.
Tropical Latin America recorded the largest absolute area of deforestation among the regions assessed but also achieved the most significant improvement against the 2018–20 baseline, with deforestation falling by 33 per cent in 2025.
In tropical Africa, annual deforestation rose to around 2.4 million hectares in 2025, compared with 2.5 million hectares in tropical Latin America.
Tropical Asia lost approximately 1.6 million hectares of forest in 2025, a 12 per cent reduction against the 2018–20 baseline. However, the report warned that the underlying drivers of deforestation in the region remained largely unchanged.
Two consecutive years of modest declines in tropical Asia may indicate that recent peaks have passed, but they do not establish a sustained trend towards forest recovery. Tropical Oceania was the only tropical region assessed as being on track to meet its 2030 forest goals.
Palmegiani said the assessment focused on regional and global figures rather than country-level indicators because global datasets could sometimes misrepresent national trends.
He noted that independent analyses and regional initiatives pointed to Indonesia and Malaysia as important contributors to the decline in deforestation across tropical Asia.
However, the region continues to face economic pressures, including growing demand for critical minerals, particularly nickel, of which Indonesia is the world’s leading exporter. Geopolitical conflicts and disruptions in global markets can also encourage short-term economic priorities at the expense of forest protection.
Agriculture remains a major driver of forest loss, with commercial production and rising demand for food, animal feed and bioenergy putting increasing pressure on natural ecosystems.
The report estimates that between 61 and 94 per cent of tropical deforestation linked to commercial agriculture may be illegal. Environmental crime, including illegal deforestation and timber and wildlife trafficking, generates as much as US$281 billion annually.
A 2025 study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, cited in the assessment, also found links between environmental offences and other crimes, including drug trafficking, illegal mining and human trafficking.
The assessment raised concerns about corporate accountability, noting that although companies in sectors associated with forest loss have adopted sustainability commitments and reporting systems, disclosure and implementation remain uneven.
More than 60 per cent of the countries assessed had yet to establish disclosure requirements covering deforestation-related risks for banks and insurance companies.
The report called for stronger enforcement and clearer regulations to ensure that corporate commitments translate into measurable changes in production and investment.
Finance is another major challenge. Although international funding commitments for forests have increased, public spending and economic incentives continue to support activities that harm natural ecosystems.
Subsidies linked to fossil fuel production and use reached US$921 billion in 2024, according to the assessment. Emergency measures introduced in 2026 to ease high energy prices could push the global total above US$1 trillion this year.
The report said governments could make better use of existing spending by redirecting agricultural support towards practices that restore nature.
“Every dollar of agricultural support that is repurposed to support farming practices that restore nature, such as agroforestry, silvopasture, and low-carbon agriculture, can generate up to USD 30 in economic benefits, especially for rural communities,” it said.
The assessment also stressed the importance of Indigenous land rights and community participation in forest protection.
At the 2025 UN climate conference, known as COP30, an intergovernmental commitment involving 16 countries and one subnational jurisdiction pledged to recognise or strengthen rights over an additional 160 million hectares of Indigenous lands and territories.
The Tropical Forests Forever Facility also included a provision reserving 20 per cent of country-level payouts for direct transfers to Indigenous and local community organisations.
However, the report warned that recognition in international policy documents does not necessarily give Indigenous peoples and local communities meaningful decision-making power or direct access to finance.
A 2026 review of 84 national climate plans found that 61 referred to under-represented groups, including Indigenous peoples and local communities, but most references were descriptive rather than linked to concrete measures.
The safety of those defending forests is another concern.
Citing Global Witness data, the assessment said at least 124 land and environmental defenders were killed in 2025. More than half of the documented killings were linked to land disputes, while nearly three-quarters of the victims were Indigenous people, small-scale farmers or people of African descent.
Climate Focus lead consultant and report author Erin Matson told IPS that the actual number of killings was likely significantly higher because many deaths and disappearances went unreported.
She said insecure land tenure, corruption and impunity often made it difficult for communities to resist illegal activities on their territories.
The report identified weak enforcement, limited government capacity and the influence of powerful interests as major obstacles to effective forest governance. Environmental defenders also face intimidation, criminalisation, threats and harassment.
Technological advances are helping authorities detect illegal forest clearance. Satellite monitoring, traceability systems and investigative tools can improve detection and cross-border cooperation.
In Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve, researchers are testing artificial intelligence-powered acoustic sensors designed to identify sounds associated with chainsaws, gunshots and engines, potentially alerting rangers to illegal logging in remote areas.
However, the assessment cautioned that improved detection must be accompanied by fair and effective enforcement to prevent small-scale producers and local communities from bearing a disproportionate burden while powerful actors escape accountability.
Despite some progress in reducing deforestation, improving monitoring and increasing forest finance, the report warned against interpreting recent gains as evidence of a lasting turnaround.
Lower forest loss in 2025 may partly reflect temporary factors, including stronger enforcement in some jurisdictions, changing commodity prices and economic conditions that slowed land conversion.
“These wins should not be mistaken for the transformation still needed,” the report said. Source: IPS News