UNFCCC COP27 CPF High level dialogue side event: Turning the Tide on Deforestation
At the High-level Dialogue leaders of CPF agencies will discuss actions, transparency and finance to accelerate efforts in turning the tide on deforestation in the context of current global pledges, including the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership.
November 17, 2022
Thursday 17 November 2022, 3:00-4:30pm GMT+2
UNFCCC COP27 Side Event Room 3 (Hatshepsut), Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt and livestreamed (CPF page).
Turning the tide on deforestation is a top priority for the UN Secretary-General, who called for accelerated efforts to halt deforestation and restore forests in 2019 through concerted action and advocacy across and beyond the UN system. An estimated 420 million ha of forest – an area larger than twice the size of Mexico – was lost between 1990 and 2020, with agricultural expansion driving about 90% of global deforestation in the 2000-2018 period.
Nature-based solutions can cost-effectively provide up to one-third of the climate change mitigation needed between now and 2030 to stabilize global warming below 1.5C. Of these, reducing deforestation and forest degradation are among the most effective options. This was emphasized and reflected through the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, adopted during the UNFCCC COP26 to accelerate efforts to halt deforestation by 2030, and in the launch of the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP) at COP27. This Partnership includes 26 countries committed to accelerating momentum to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.
Co-chaired by the US and Ghana, member countries will commit to be a leader in at least one of the FCLP’s action areas. Within each action area, the FCLP will support, lead, establish or showcase, as appropriate, one or more initiatives as the principal mechanism to scale and drive delivery. As we move from an era of commitments, good will and pilots into a decade of massively scaled up action on forest, mobilizing finance will be of the essence. Forests have proved to be a key solution to multiple planetary challenges but the investment gap remains daunting.
Estimates of finance needed to protect, restore and enhance forests globally range from USD 45 to 60 billion per year. Current international and domestic funding averages only USD 2.4 billion - 0.5-5% of the need - per year. This compares to over USD 10 billion per year that has been spent on agriculture and forestry subsidies by countries with high rates of deforestation since 2010.
The USD 22.4 billion (including USD 1.7 billion to indigenous peoples) pledged under the 2021 Glasgow Leader’s Declaration on Forests and Land Use, signed by 142 countries to work together to halt deforestation, is good start but does not match the financial need of USD 45-60 billion per year.
It is time to scale up massively predictable finance for forests solutions. Opportunities are at hand and the CPF is ready to help to support access to public finance for activities targeted at halting deforestation, conserving and sustainably using forests and restoring forests, and to support the leveraging of private investment for sustainable land use, agriculture, forest conservation, restoration and management.
The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF), consisting of 15 international organizations, is spearheading the efforts to halt deforestation globally. In 2021, the CPF released the latest scientific findings and key messages as a joint statement, Challenges and Opportunities in Turning the Tide on Deforestation, at the 16th session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF) in support of the existing global forest goals and targets in support of the implementation of the UN Strategic Plan for Forests (UNSPF) and its Global Forest Goals and other intergovernmentally-agreed commitments on forests. During the CPF Dialogue at COP26, the CPF announced the launch of the CPF Joint Initiative on Turning the Tide on Deforestation to present its flagship initiatives and programmes targeting the common goal of halting deforestation.
Objective
At the High-level Dialogue leaders of CPF agencies will discuss actions, transparency and finance to accelerate efforts in turning the tide on deforestation in the context of current global pledges, including the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership. The dialogue will also serve to identify next steps to be taken to realize enhanced ambition and global commitments.
Speakers
MODERATORS
Mario Boccucci, Head, UN-REDD Programme Secretariat
Amy Duchelle, Senior Forestry Officer and Team Leader of Forests and Climate, Forestry Division, Food and Agriculture Organization
OPENING REMARKS
Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General, FAO and Chair of the CPF
Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs (video)
SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER
Roselyn Fosua Adjei, Director, Climate Change and National REDD+ Focal Point of the Forestry Commission of Ghana, Co-chair of Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership
HIGH-LEVEL PANEL
Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC
Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy-Director General, FAO
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity
Susan Gardner, UNEP Director, Ecosystems Division
Sheam Satkuru, Executive Director, International Tropical Timber Organization
Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, Director, UN Forum on Forests Secretariat
RESPONDENT
Jessica Vega Ortega, Global Indigenous Youth Caucus
CLOSING REMARKS
Marina Silva, former Minister of Environment, Brazil
Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General, FAO and Chair of the CPF
