Submission for the COP 30 Presidency Roadmap on Halting and Reversing Deforestation and Forest Degradation by 2030
At COP 30, the Brazilian Presidency announced that it will present two Roadmaps to advance the new global goals set by governments in 2023: halting and reversing deforestation, and transitioning away from fossil fuels. The Presidency has called for civil society inputs for both Roadmaps, and Woodwell experts have prepared an input for the Deforestation Roadmap.
Woodwell’s input related to the process of developing the Roadmap highlights, in particular, that:
- The Deforestation Roadmap should focus on key priority opportunities, be specific about what actions should be taken and by whom, define clear milestones, and prioritize conservation of existing forests and halting forest loss and degradation;
- The Presidency should harmonize the two Roadmaps, and ensure that the Fossil Fuel Roadmap (also known as TAFF) does not encourage energy sector solutions that undermine forest goals, such as policies that promote electricity generation from wood pellets; and
- The Presidency should ensure that the Roadmap is a living and relevant document at least through its target year of 2030. Such continuity could be achieved, for example, through partnerships with the COP31 and COP32 Presidencies.
Woodwell’s input related to substantive content of the Roadmap highlights six types of action to address barriers to halting and reversing deforestation and degradation, i.e.:
- Actions that drive the systematic incorporation of the costs and risks of deforestation and forest degradation into economic and financial decision-making processes in order to shift public investment and private financial flows away from activities that cause forest loss and towards investment in maintaining forest resilience;
- Actions that address fire as a driver of forest degradation, shifting from reactive suppression towards and integrated approach that combines prevention, risk assessment, preparedness, response, and recovery, and explicitly recognises the socio-ecological and cultural context in which fires occur;
- Actions that accelerate implementation of commitments to recognize Indigenous rights and tenure and increase access to finance;
- Actions that increase financial flows and price signals that incentivize forest conservation, including accelerated implementation of payments for ecosystems services schemes, high-integrity forest carbon markets, and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility;
- Actions that integrate policy and planning across sectors that affect forests, including agriculture, extractive industry, infrastructure, and energy, as well as into structures that govern global trade and finance, such as sovereign debt management; and
- Actions that enable countries to generate, maintain and integrate multiple types of data and information that are necessary to enable the efficient and effective targeting of forest-related interventions and finance.
The quality, legitimacy and continuity of the Roadmaps will depend on the expertise and buy-in of government and stakeholders. Woodwell looks forward to the Presidency’s first Roadmap proposal in the coming weeks and will stay engaged to ensure that the Roadmaps are built on the latest available science and best practices.
