The last decade was pivotal for the world’s forests. The 2010s saw the rise of unprecedented new commitments — from governments and the private sector alike — to bring deforestation to heel. The UN REDD+ framework, the New York Declaration on Forests and the Sustainable Development Goals set out ambitious targets to conserve and restore millions […]

This blog is part of Global Forest Watch’s Global Insights series. Although many parts of the world are experiencing forest loss, the factors motivating these losses differ between countries and regions. Global Insights takes a local look at historical and current trends in forested countries across the world to highlight the diversity of forest issues. […]

Hundreds of communities across the US are developing ambitious climate action plans to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but most overlook a critical piece of the puzzle: trees. Across the US, forests and trees offset 13 percent of national emissions. With improved conservation, restoration and land management, that number could jump to 21 percent. […]

Compared to other tropical countries, Indonesia has made strong progress in reducing deforestation in recent years. The Indonesian government released its official deforestation numbers in May 2018, showing that the rate of forest loss has been declining from 2015 to 2018. The data reported deforestation of 440,000 hectares in 2018, slightly lower than the 2017 […]

Sometimes described as coral reefs of the forest for the vast diversity of organisms they support, mangrove forests are one of the Earth’s most varied ecosystems. From above, they might look like any other forest, but beneath their canopy, mangroves’ intricate root systems are home to a wealth of marine life. But as human development […]

Protecting tropical forests is essential for achieving the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. Global Forest Watch Climate recently released estimated carbon dioxide emissions associated with the 2017 tropical tree cover loss data, and the numbers demonstrate more of what we already knew. If tropical tree cover loss continues at the current rate, it will be nearly impossible to keep warming below the […]

By Susan Minnemeyer, Nancy Harris and Octavia Payne New analysis from The Nature Conservancy, WRI and others estimates that stopping deforestation, restoring forests and improving forestry practices could cost-effectively remove 7 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, or as much as eliminating 1.5 billion cars—more than all of the cars in the world today! […]

By Nancy Harris and Carolyn Ciciarelli Since GFW Climate launched in Paris last December, we have been hard at work to move users beyond just viewing pixels on a map to better understanding how those pixels translate to real world impacts on international climate change mitigation efforts. GFW Climate has released three new features that […]

By Fred Stolle, Taryn Fransen, Ranping Song, Hana Biru, James Anderson and Octavia Payne As countries refine their national commitments (called INDCs) presented at the climate negotiations under way in Paris, it is important to think beyond power plants and automobiles. Forestry, agriculture and other land use represent more than 20 percent of global emissions, and are […]