Forest Conservation

NOVEMBER 2015
FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Building resilience to climate change through forest conservation,
restoration and sustainable use
• Forests help stabilise the climate. They regulate ecosystems, play an integral part in the carbon cycle,
support livelihoods, and can help drive sustainable growth.
• To maximise the climate benefits of forests, we must keep intact more of the forest landscapes we
have, manage more sustainably those we use, and restore more of those we have lost.
• Halting the loss and degradation of natural systems and promoting their restoration have the potential to
contribute over one-third of the total climate change mitigation scientists say is required by 2030.
• Restoring 150 million hectares of degraded land in line with the Bonn Challenge would capture about
a sixth of the carbon necessary to close the emissions gap.
• The success of forest climate actions and the permanence of emissions reductions from them
largely depend on how well they recognise the rights and interests of forest communities.
necessary to close the emissions gap. And the co-

What is the issue? benefits are considerable:
Forests are a stabilising force for the climate. They • The livelihoods of 1.6 billion people
regulate ecosystems, play an integral part in the depend on forests.
carbon cycle, support livelihoods, and supply goods • Forests provide US$ 75–100 billion per year
and services that can drive sustainable growth. in goods and services.
• Forests are home to 80% of the world’s
But today, around 30% of global forest cover has terrestrial biodiversity.
been completely cleared and a further 20% has been
degraded. Deforestation, forest degradation and land
use now account for around 24% of total global
emissions, more than the entire global transportation
What can be done?
sector. Today, more and more consumers are demanding
forest products from sustainable sources, and an
In this light, land use is a significant part of the
increasing number of major palm oil, timber, paper
problem contributing to climate change, but forests
and other forest product corporations are beginning
and forest landscapes can also be some of our best the conversion to deforestation-free supply chains.
solutions. For example, the opportunity for restoration
is tremendous. The Global Partnership on Forest In addition to creating and maintaining protected
Landscape Restoration has estimated that around areas and launching initiatives towards more
two billion hectares of degraded land across the sustainable management, many countries,
world – an area the size of South America – may subnational governments and private landowners are
offer opportunities for landscape restoration. restoring degraded and deforested land. This helps to
take pressure off healthy, intact forests and reduce
emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Why is this important?
But the success of any forest climate actions and the
To maximise climate benefits we need to keep intact permanence of any emissions reductions that come
more of the forest landscapes we have, manage from them are largely dependent on the extent to
more sustainably those we use, and restore more of which they recognise the rights and interests of forest
those we have lost. communities and help to improve or sustain their
Halting the loss and degradation of natural systems livelihoods.
and promoting their restoration have the potential to
contribute over one-third of the total climate change
mitigation that scientists say is required by 2030.
Restoring 150 million hectares in line with the Bonn
Challenge would capture about a sixth of the carbon
IUCN website IUCN issues briefs: Twitter: @IUCN

iucn.org iucn.org/cop21
IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) – 28 rue Mauverney, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland - Tel.: +41 22 999 0000 – Fax: +41 22 999 0002
FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE NOVEMBER 2015
Against this backdrop, IUCN’s Global Forest and GFCCP’s direct responses to climate change
Climate Change Programme (GFCCP) tackles the at COP21 and beyond include:
role of trees and forests in building resilience to
climate change in several ways:
Ensuring that the 2015 agreement is
• Combatting the rate of deforestation and comprehensive in its coverage of GHG sources and
forest degradation helps conserve the sinks, includes all major economic sectors, prevents
double counting of emission reductions, and clearly
benefits that people and societies get from
recognises and supports the current role and future
forests, including forest carbon stocks and potential of the land sector and all terrestrial, marine
livelihoods. IUCN does this by accelerating and coastal ecosystems as effective natural sinks
action that puts priority attention on areas of and reservoirs of GHGs
high biodiversity value and of cultural
significance, such as primary forests and Joining international efforts to combat forest loss
and degradation, including those launched under
heritage sites.
the New York Declaration on Forests to halve global
• Restoring forest landscapes helps natural forest loss by 2020, and end it by 2030
enhance climate change mitigation and
adaptation. Under the Bonn Challenge, IUCN Contributing towards the restoration of 150
supports national and subnational decision million hectares of degraded landscapes and
makers in reaching the goal of having 150 forest lands by 2020 through the Bonn Challenge
million hectares of deforested and degraded and its New York Declaration extension calling for the
land under restoration by 2020 and 350 restoration of at least an additional 200 million
million hectares by 2030. hectares by 2030
• Enabling rights-based land use ensures
community involvement in land-use Expanding protected areas, including Indigenous,
outcomes. IUCN produces results on the privately owned and community conservation areas,
ground through partners and projects in ways that enhance the landscape’s resilience and
worldwide to help strengthen community stabilise and store carbon
control over forests, alleviate poverty,
empower women and men, enhance
biodiversity, and sustainably manage forests. IUCN supports and assists climate change mitigation
• Unlocking forest benefits is key to a and adaptation through its global network of
sustainable and equitable supply of forest thousands of members and partners in Latin
goods and services. IUCN builds capacity for America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania.
implementing restoration, engaging the As a Union of State and Non-State members, IUCN
private sector and striving to make sure is able to support climate change action from setting
benefits – such as those from Reducing goals and generating new knowledge, to reinforcing
Emissions from Deforestation and Forest enabling conditions and unblocking obstacles,
Degradation (REDD+) – are equitably shared through to implementation on the ground.
with local landowners and forest
communities.
Where do we go from here?

As the world moves towards a climate agreement in
Paris in December 2015 and beyond, it is imperative
that national leaders subscribe to and work to
implement the New York Declaration on Forests, Where can I get more information?
sustain forest climate financing, and include forest
and land use in their Intended Nationally Determined iucn.org/forest
Contributions under the United Nations Framework [email protected]
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
In doing so, these leaders will show the way that
nature – and, in particular, trees and forests – can
and must be part of the solution to keeping the
climate within the globally accepted two-degree More on IUCN at COP21:
temperature increase.
IUCN website IUCN issues briefs: Twitter: @IUCN

iucn.org iucn.org/cop21
IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) – 28 rue Mauverney, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland - Tel.: +41 22 999 0000 – Fax: +41 22 999 0002

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NOVEMBER 2015

FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

necessary to close the emissions gap. And the co-

IUCN website IUCN issues briefs: Twitter: @IUCN

Where do we go from here?

IUCN website IUCN issues briefs: Twitter: @IUCN

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