How Is KR 4.1 Tracking?
The world loses about 10 soccer fields of forest every minute. Our Forests key result calls for the world to plant or restore at least as many trees as we log or burn. The target is net zero deforestation by 2030.
Despite a COP26 commitment by more than 140 countries to end deforestation by 2030, the global problem has only gotten worse. But there are some bright spots of progress toward this KR. One can be found in Brazil, where President Lula da Silva is moving to protect the Amazon rainforest by enforcing anti-deforestation laws already on the books. In Indonesia, where the government has banned wholesale forest destruction, consumer product companies and environmental activists are calling out problematic supply chains. The country’s rate of forest loss fell to its lowest level in two decades.
Following the lead of the EU’s 2023 regulation to curb deforestation, all nations need to enforce and incentivize robust forest protections. The investment and subsidies that now drive deforestation must be shifted to ending it. This funding can replace lost income for people whose livelihoods have been tied to cutting down trees. With these measures in place, our forests can meet a kinder fate.
Unfortunately, not all forest destruction is readily controllable. In 2023, Canadian wildfires burned an area twice the size of Portugal and emitted nearly 2 gigatons of CO2.
