New York declaration on forests: action statements and action plans
This document summarizes the wealth of announcements on forests at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit, including the New York Declaration on Forests, its associated voluntary Action Agenda, and a large number of supportive concrete action announcements. The New York Declaration on Forests is a non-legally binding political declaration that grew out of dialogue among governments, companies and civil society, spurred by the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit. For the first time, world leaders endorse a global timeline to cut natural forest loss in half by 2020, and strive to end it by 2030. It also calls for restoring forests and croplands of an area larger than India. Meeting these goals would cut between 4.5 and 8.8 billion tons of carbon pollution every year – about as much as the current emissions of the United States. The Declaration is endorsed by dozens of governments, [30] of the world’s biggest companies, and [more than 50] influential civil society and indigenous organizations.