Policy paper

World leaders summit on ‘Action on forests and land use’

Updated 18 July 2022

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cop26-world-leaders-summit-on-action-on-forests-and-land-use-2-november-2021/7d4b122d-3c50-4f75-b85d-109089c50c64

The COP26 World Leaders Summit ‘Action on Forests and Land Use’ event brought together an unprecedented alliance of governments, companies, financial actors, and non-state leaders to raise ambition on forests and land-use.

World Leaders Summit Action on Forests & Land Use

Political commitment

Over 140 leaders, accounting for more than 90% of the world’s forests, have committed to work together to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 in the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use.

Map of countries supporting the Glasgow leaders declaration on forest and land use.

The current list of countries that have endorsed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use is available below. All countries are invited to join this effort and endorse the Declaration.

Mobilisation of finance

12 donor countries pledged to provide $12 billion (£8.75 billion) of public climate finance from 2021 to 2025 to a new Global Forest Finance Pledge. This will support action in developing countries, including restoring degraded land, tackling wildfires and advancing the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

In addition, 12 country and philanthropic donors pledged at least $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) to protect the forests of the Congo Basin. This is the area home to the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world, which is critically important to global efforts to address climate change as well as to sustainable development in the region.

14 country and philanthropic donors also pledged at least $1.7 billion from 2021 to 2025 to advance Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ forest tenure rights and support their role as guardians of forests and nature.

In addition at least £5.3 billion ($7.2 billion) of private sector funding has been mobilised.

Shifting the financial system

CEOs from more than 30 financial institutions with over $8.7 trillion of global assets have committed to eliminate investment in activities linked to agricultural commodity driven deforestation, alongside the billions of private finance mobilised to support the forest economy through three flagship initiatives.

The Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition exceeded its target of mobilising $1 billion in public-private commitments. LEAF will provide finance to tropical and subtropical countries that successfully reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation. Private finance will be provided only by companies already committed to deep emissions cuts in their own supply chains, in line with science-based targets. This is expected to become one of the largest ever public-private efforts to protect tropical forests and support sustainable development.

Nine multilateral development banks have also launched a joint statement outlining the actions they will take to mainstream nature into their policies, analysis, assessments, advice, investments and operations, in line with their respective mandates and operating models.

Trade in agricultural commodities

28 governments, representing 75% of global trade in key commodities that can threaten forests, have signed up to a new Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Statement. This statement is part of a Roadmap of actions designed to deliver sustainable trade and reduce pressure on forests, including support for smallholder farmers and improving the transparency of supply chains.

In addition, 12 of the largest companies managing over half of global trade in key forest-risk commodities such as palm oil, beef and soy have announced that by COP27 they will lay out a shared roadmap for enhanced supply chain action consistent with a 1.5 degree Celsius pathway.

The outcomes of the event demonstrate how action on forests and land-use can contribute to keeping the 1.5 temperature goal in sight, to supporting sustainable livelihoods, and to meeting shared promises on adaptation and finance.

Countries endorsing the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use

List of countries endorsing the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use as of 21 January 2022:

  1. Albania
  2. Andorra
  3. Angola
  4. Argentina
  5. Armenia
  6. Australia
  7. Austria
  8. Azerbaijan
  9. Bangladesh
  10. Belarus
  11. Belgium
  12. Belize
  13. Bhutan
  14. Bosnia and Herzegovina
  15. Botswana
  16. Brazil
  17. Brunei Darussalam
  18. Bulgaria
  19. Burkina Faso
  20. Cambodia
  21. Cameroon
  22. Canada
  23. Central African Republic
  24. Chad
  25. Chile
  26. China
  27. Colombia
  28. Costa Rica
  29. Côte d’Ivoire
  30. Croatia
  31. Cuba
  32. Cyprus
  33. Czechia
  34. Denmark
  35. Dominican Republic
  36. Democratic Republic of the Congo
  37. Ecuador
  38. El Salvador
  39. Equatorial Guinea
  40. Estonia
  41. Eswatini
  42. European Commission on behalf of the European Union
  43. Fiji
  44. Finland
  45. France
  46. Gabon
  47. Georgia
  48. Germany
  49. Ghana
  50. Greece
  51. Grenada
  52. Guatemala
  53. Guinea Bissau
  54. Guyana
  55. Haiti
  56. Holy See
  57. Honduras
  58. Hungary
  59. Iceland
  60. Indonesia
  61. Ireland
  62. Israel
  63. Italy
  64. Jamaica
  65. Japan
  66. Kazakhstan
  67. Kenya
  68. Kyrgyzstan
  69. Latvia
  70. Lebanon
  71. Liberia
  72. Liechtenstein
  73. Lithuania
  74. Luxembourg
  75. Madagascar
  76. Malawi
  77. Malaysia
  78. Mali
  79. Malta
  80. Mauritania
  81. Mauritius
  82. Mexico
  83. Moldova
  84. Monaco
  85. Mongolia
  86. Montenegro
  87. Morocco
  88. Mozambique
  89. Nepal
  90. Netherlands
  91. New Zealand
  92. Nicaragua
  93. Niger
  94. Nigeria
  95. North Macedonia
  96. Norway
  97. Pakistan
  98. Panama
  99. Papua New Guinea
  100. Paraguay
  101. Peru
  102. Philippines
  103. Poland
  104. Portugal
  105. Republic of the Congo
  106. Romania
  107. Russia
  108. Rwanda
  109. Saint Lucia
  110. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  111. Samoa
  112. San Marino
  113. Sao Tome and Principe
  114. Senegal
  115. Serbia
  116. Seychelles
  117. Sierra Leone
  118. Singapore
  119. Slovakia
  120. Slovenia
  121. Somalia
  122. South Korea
  123. Spain
  124. Sri Lanka
  125. Suriname
  126. Sweden
  127. Switzerland
  128. Syria
  129. Tanzania
  130. Thailand
  131. Togo
  132. Tonga
  133. Turkey
  134. Turkmenistan
  135. Uganda
  136. Ukraine
  137. United Arab Emirates
  138. United Kingdom
  139. United States of America
  140. Uruguay
  141. Uzbekistan
  142. Vanuatu
  143. Vietnam
  144. Zambia
  145. Zimbabwe

Watch the event

Hear from some of the World Leader’s who have endorsed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use.

COP26 World Leaders Summit Forest and Land-Use event on YouTube.

Forest family photo of World Leaders at COP26 at the SEC.

See more photos from the World Leaders Summit event on Flickr.

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