Brazil’s COP30 presidency released its long-awaited deforestation roadmap on 3 November, setting out possible ways for countries to turn existing forest commitments into action. The voluntary document does not create new commitments or reopen previously agreed decisions, and it sits outside the UN climate talks’ formal negotiating outcomes.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva first proposed roadmaps on deforestation and the transition away from fossil fuels ahead of COP30 in Belém. By the end of the summit, 93 countries had backed the forest roadmap, expressing support for developing voluntary pathways to reverse forest loss and degradation by 2030. The number fell short of the 196 parties needed for consensus at a COP.
The roadmap’s stated aim is to support coordinated, country-led action while taking account of national circumstances and priorities. Its development drew on more than 200 submissions from governments, negotiating blocs, civil society groups, researchers, Indigenous peoples, businesses and others. Eighteen countries and four blocs submitted their own contributions. The Climate Policy Initiative served as the process’s secretariat and technical partner.
The document groups its proposals into three areas: national action, international cooperation and finance. For national efforts, it covers five areas: maintaining forests, using them sustainably, tackling degradation and deforestation, and restoring or establishing forests. It identifies 18 possible implementation approaches, including protected areas, recognition of Indigenous peoples’ territorial rights, measures against pests and plant diseases, and limits on permits for activities that convert forests.
It also sets out a five-step process that countries could use to plan national action, alongside guidance on conditions that can support implementation, such as better land governance and environmental education. On international cooperation, the roadmap highlights how climate, biodiversity, land and human-rights agreements intersect on forest issues. It calls for stronger technical cooperation and capacity-building, noting that countries do not have equal ability to access and use forest-monitoring information.
The roadmap addresses cross-border crime and trade, recommending stronger national capacity to investigate environmental crime and trade policies that reward sustainable, deforestation-free production. It says measures that reward compliance are generally more effective than those that add economic and administrative burdens for exporters.
Finance is a major focus. The document estimates that $300 billion a year will be needed by 2030 to halt and reverse deforestation, while current funding amounts to less than one-third of that. Nearly 90% of existing finance comes from domestic public sources. Its 10 proposals include aligning public finance with forest goals, improving benefit-sharing and strengthening forests’ position in carbon markets.
Countries identified a range of obstacles to putting forest plans into practice. These include pressure from mining and agriculture, illegal logging, differing definitions of forest degradation, limited and unpredictable access to finance, and challenges in monitoring deforestation and restoration. Several countries also pointed to rising wildfire risks and the need for early-warning systems and monitoring in remote areas. Other barriers are specific to national circumstances, including limited land availability in Mauritius and reliance on firewood among much of Sudan’s population amid conflict.
Some governments questioned the process or chose not to support the roadmap at COP30. India objected to including voluntary roadmaps outside the formal agenda in the summit’s negotiated outcome, but its environment minister later said the country welcomed the forest roadmap. Russia argued that a universal roadmap was not mandated under the existing international climate framework and also raised concerns about trade and the lack of a universally agreed, legally binding definition of forest degradation. Other countries were wary of non-negotiated mitigation initiatives competing with formal agenda priorities such as adaptation finance.
The roadmap builds on previous international agreements, including the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use and the COP28 global stocktake, which recognised the importance of halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation. Its purpose, the document says, is to help advance those existing commitments. The Brazilian presidency has called for countries to continue the dialogue through the conclusion of the second global stocktake in 2028.
Sources: Carbon Brief.