Bridging the Gap
Forest Dialogues
The 'Forest Dialogues' is a consensus-building process to raise the ambition of forest countries to deliver high-quality and high-integrity emissions reductions, and of donor countries and corporates to increase forest financing.
Join the Dialogues
Our ability to achieve a gigaton of emissions reductions from forests depends on forging a consensus on critical issues like forest carbon pricing, public financing levels, private sector engagement, emissions quality, and delivery methods.
In 2023-2024, the United Nations Environment Programme is convening discussions during regional climate weeks and forest summits to harmonize diverse perspectives on these key topics. Your perspectives are crucial in shaping a roadmap outlining measurable commitments for emissions reductions/enhanced removals (ERRs) by 2025, and ultimately the future of our forests.
Timeline of Events
| WHERE WE ARE |
We are off-track, but the race is not over.
Despite the growing momentum, commitments for forests, we are nowhere near what is needed to reach Paris Agreement ambition
Deforestation rates continue to persist. The existing model for financing forests is simply not working. There is a low level of ambition from key actors, slow implementation and a complex system with high transaction costs, coupled with a lack of incentives, and insufficient volume of funds needed to complement domestic funding to achieve forest solutions.
| WHERE WE ARE GOING |
A future where forests and people co-exist, exists.
If we want to have a chance to limit global temperature rise to no more than 2 degrees, we need to unlock high-quality ER from forests. In fact, forests have potential to provide more than 4 GT per year of ER by 2030.
Achieving finance for 1 GT of high-integrity ER by 2025, and 1 GT per year thereafter is essential to unlock the potential of forests to curb the temperature increase.
By doing so, we can reap multiple benefits for communities, economies and for biodiversity.
| HOW WE CAN GET THERE |
To get there, we need to protect and fund our forests.
Incentives
through increased forest carbon floor price and sufficient volume of payments
Investment
in REDD+ readiness and implementation in a bigger scale.
Integrity
to ensure real and robust emissions reduction
Inclusion
including access to sufficient funding for Indigenous peoples and local communities
| Looking Ahead |
Forest dialogues outcome
Our dialogues will address negative sentiments, skepticism and misunderstandings surrounding forest carbon markets by emphasizing the merits of well-designed forest carbon credits, and steering the dialogue toward actionable solutions. By COP-30 (the “Forest COP), we aim to change this prevailing narrative in the public media and unleash private-sector purchases of forest carbon credits. By doing so, we will make a significant contribution to the fight against climate change and the protection of natural ecosystems.