• Deforestation and Climate Pressures: Deforestation is slowing, but forests are increasingly vulnerable to climate-related stressors like wildfires and pests, leading to significant carbon emissions.
• Innovation Imperatives: Innovations in technology, policy, social engagement, and finance are critical to enhancing forest conservation, restoration, and sustainable use.
• Inclusive and Responsible Approaches: Addressing barriers to innovation and ensuring inclusive, gender-responsive strategies are essential for equitable and effective forest sector advancements.

The post The State of the World’s Forests 2024 appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

The post OFAC Hybrid Forum: What is the State of Central African Forests? appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

Among the three largest tropical rainforests globally, only the Congo Basin has remained a strong net carbon sink, absorbing about 0.61 GtCO2e each year (approximately equivalent to Canada’s total GHG emissions annually).  

Although relatively undisturbed compared to other tropical forests, the Congo Basin is at significant risk today, with deforestation and forest degradation increasing quickly. These trends call for protective measures.

Congo Basin countries need to strike a balance between economic growth and natural resource conservation. Additionally, governance and public debt challenges hinder the implementation of regulations or green investments that could protect these forests. 

While several efforts to scale up green finance for forest conservation exist, finance has been largely insufficient to date and does not reflect the ecosystem and climate services it provides. 

Key messages   

This discussion paper, Increasing International Finance Flow to Sustain the Congo Basin’s Forests, proposes six strategies to mobilize public and private finance for sustainable development and forest conservation tailored to the Congo Basin’s characteristics, needs, and priorities:

1. Scaling public finance: Establishing a sustainable forest trust for the Congo Basin. 
2. Increasing fiscal space in Congo Basin countries: Assigning value to the Congo Basin’s natural assets to encourage long-term investments. 
3. Stimulating investments in conservation: Issuing a forest bond linked to new ecosystem payments. 
4. De-risking private investment: Enhancing the use of guarantees in the context of climate finance and green growth. 
5. Investing in pipeline development: Creating an investment and technical assistance facility for environmental markets. 
6. Attracting foreign direct investment: Establishing environmental markets investment promotion agencies in the countries of the Congo Basin. 

Climate Focus developed this discussion paper in collaboration with WWF and the Commission des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (COMIFAC).  

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In the recent book Power Dynamics in African Forests: The Politics of Global Sustainability, authors Symphorien Ongolo and Max Krott explore the historical and current challenges of forestland governance in Africa, emphasizing the power dynamics between actors involved in resource exploitation and biodiversity conservation policies. It investigates the intersection of global sustainability agendas with domestic politics in Africa, revealing how actors in forest-rich countries employ complex informal strategies to resist the dominance of powerful global environmental players.

Tahina Roland, a young Malagasy agronomist and GLF 2023 Drylands Restoration Steward is the author of chapter 9 titled Linking Institutional Weaknesses to Deforestation Drivers in the Governance of Protected Areas in Madagascar.

In his article, Tahina investigates the persistence of deforestation in Menabe-Antimena, one of Madagascar’s significant protected areas (PAs). While the expansion of PA networks is a key focus of conservation efforts, effective management is crucial for biodiversity preservation. Using the Institutional Analysis and Development framework, the study reveals that inadequate funding for PA managers, insufficient alternatives for farmers, and a focus on enforcing laws against farmers rather than private sector operators contribute to deforestation for cash crop cultivation. The PA’s limited integration into regional economic and governance priorities further hampers conservation efforts, making shifting cultivation an attractive option for local communities, while regional authorities struggle to protect the area from the cash crop industry driving deforestation.

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About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’

The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilised action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet.

The conference featured two focused days: Day 1 centered on “Africa’s Sovereign Solutions,” exploring pathways to a sustainable and prosperous future for the continent. Day 2, dedicated to climate, aimed to craft a “Survival Guide for a Planet in Crisis,” paving the way for a fairer world ahead of COP28.

GLF Nairobi brought together a diverse coalition of influential voices, ranging from scientists, activists, and Indigenous leaders to financiers, women, youth, policymakers, and private sector representatives. As a united front, we collectively championed change and passionately advocated for meaningful action in these pivotal times.

Unlocking the path to climate action

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been hailed as a “survival guide for humanity.” We learned that global warming is “more likely than not” to reach 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in the near future, resulting in “increasingly irreversible losses” and triggering critical climate ‘tipping points’.

What is stopping us from phasing out fossil fuels, protecting ecosystems and reducing deforestation? What will it take to get governments and business to take real, meaningful climate action? There is still hope for a just transition to a decarbonized world, but we must act now: every fraction of a degree matters. In the closing plenary of GLF Nairobi, join us in crafting a survival guide for humanity.

The post Closing plenary: Building a survival guide for a planet in crisis appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’

The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilised action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet.

The conference featured two focused days: Day 1 centered on “Africa’s Sovereign Solutions,” exploring pathways to a sustainable and prosperous future for the continent. Day 2, dedicated to climate, aimed to craft a “Survival Guide for a Planet in Crisis,” paving the way for a fairer world ahead of COP28.

GLF Nairobi brought together a diverse coalition of influential voices, ranging from scientists, activists, and Indigenous leaders to financiers, women, youth, policymakers, and private sector representatives. As a united front, we collectively championed change and passionately advocated for meaningful action in these pivotal times.

About this session

The post Restoration and deforestation-free supply chains by smallholder farmers appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’

The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilized action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet.

The conference featured two focused days: Day 1 centered on “Africa’s Sovereign Solutions,” exploring pathways to a sustainable and prosperous future for the continent. Day 2, dedicated to climate, aimed to craft a “Survival Guide for a Planet in Crisis,” paving the way for a fairer world ahead of COP28.

GLF Nairobi brought together a diverse coalition of influential voices, ranging from scientists, activists, and Indigenous leaders to financiers, women, youth, policymakers, and private sector representatives. As a united front, we collectively championed change and passionately advocated for meaningful action in these pivotal times.

About this session

This session explored strategies for meeting the challenges posed by the EU Regulation on Deforestation-free Products to “avoid that the listed products Europeans buy, use and consume contribute to deforestation and forest degradation in the EU and globally”.

Panelists discussed how to put smallholder farmers, including women and Indigenous Peoples, at the center of this transition. Learn about key actions that must be taken to comply with the new regulations, potential challenges and stumbling blocks that may be specific to Africa’s context, and mechanisms or levers to engage with smallholder farmers.

The post Putting smallholders at the center of deforestation-free value chains in Africa appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

Forests and trees critically contribute to sustainable agrifood systems, food security and nutrition, including through the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. Agriculture and forestry are intrinsically linked: in many rural areas, farmers depend on both agriculture and forestry for income and subsistence. Support from forests to agriculture includes offering habitats for pollinators, water regulation, soil fertility and carbon sequestration.

Yet we have lost 420 million ha of forest through deforestation since 1990 and deforestation continues, although the rate has slowed from 11 million ha per year in the decade 2000–2010 to 8.8 million ha per year in the period 2010–2018. There are persistent trade-offs between agriculture and forests, with competition for land among the most notable; responsible for almost 90 percent of global deforestation between 2000 and 2018, agricultural expansion for cropland and livestock grazing is the largest driving force of forest loss.

This paper summarizes the current state of concepts and approaches for addressing deforestation in the trade, marketing, and production of agricultural commodities that have a disproportionate impact on forests at international, national, and landscape levels.

To date, predominant attention has been directed toward the role of the private sector and “consumer countries” that shape market regulation. This publication aims to complement the international discourse by generating a greater focus on the role of “producer country” governments at the national and local levels to support efforts to decouple agricultural production from deforestation.

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About the 6th GLF Investment Case Symposium

Hosted in Luxembourg and online, GLF–Luxembourg Finance for Nature 2023: What comes next? united 4,500 participants from 160 countries around how finance can solve – rather than exacerbate – the climate and biodiversity crises. The event featured 106 speakers and 100 global and local partner organizations and reached 10 million people on social media, with more than 230,000 engagements.

About this session

The financial sector has been a leading contributor to the crises we face today, from climate change to land degradation to biodiversity loss, but it also has the potential to be an important part of the remedy. While many commitments have been made, such as net zero and zero deforestation pledges, more needs to happen to reach the sustainable finance tipping point. With finance thought leaders, we discuss what the next steps must be for the financial ecosystem to become a driver of sustainability.

The post Opening plenary: How do we reach the sustainable finance tipping point? appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

Presented by Dr. Thomas Asbeck, Deputy Head of the Forestry Department at Unique land use GmbH during the 6th GLF Investment Case Symposium.

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