Properly managing forests is key to sustaining terrestrial biodiversity and protecting our planet

Presented during Forest and Water Day at the 2024 United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16) on October 25, 2024, The Forest Factor: The Role of Protection, Restoration, and Sustainable Management of Forests for the Implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework publication highlights the importance of the conservation of forest biodiversity and sustainable forest management in achieving the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), which are deeply rooted in forests and forest sectors. 

The CPF report, led by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and the Secretariat of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFFS) also tackles global challenges such as climate change and sustainable development and presents solutions for reversing deforestation and degradation and enhancing the health of forest ecosystems. Practical policy recommendations and pathways are identified for stakeholders to help them align with KMGBF targets, including the need to elevate dryland, temperate, and boreal forests in terms of biodiversity management.

“This report delivers a clear message: conservation, restoration, and sustainable management and use is crucial for achieving the KMGBF targets,” said Zhimin Wu, Chairperson of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests and Director of the Forestry Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “This is a pivotal moment to connect biodiversity, climate change, hunger, and poverty as we journey from the 2024 UN Biodiversity Conference to the 2025 UN Climate Conference.”

Forests shelter up to 80% of the terrestrial biodiversity, including more species of birds, reptiles, and mammals than any other habitat. At the same time, the global rate of extinction of forest species is now 1,000 times higher than historical norms.  To secure the largest terrestrial carbon sink, the report highlights the importance of restoring multi-functional landscapes, limiting monoculture plantations, and prioritizing native species that can adapt to new ecological conditions.

The role of forest biodiversity as a key safeguard and ally for climate action is also highlighted in the report, in addition to their significant economic value and the immense costs of biodiversity loss due to deforestation and degradation. With the increasing global demand for wood and non-wood forest products, sustainable forest management is essential for achieving development, societal, and biodiversity objectives.

The report also calls for a focus on the rights and tenure of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including the integration of indigenous knowledge systems should be integrated in to monitoring systems.

Forests need more attention

Forests cover 31 per cent of the Earth’s surface and play a key role in supporting livelihoods as well as hosting most of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. They also manage carbon, water and energy exchange and support other ecosystems such as freshwater and coastal marine environments. Despite their significant contributions, they continue to face challenges. 

Climate change, deforestation, forest degradation, species exploitation and the spread of invasive species are contributing to the loss of biodiversity, while more frequent and intense wildfires account now for nearly 33 per cent of global tree cover loss, according to the CBD-CPF report.

All of these are challenges to the implementation of the KMGBF goals and targets, which are fundamentally linked with the UN Strategic Plan for Forests. The only way forward, explains the report, is by improving forest management, restoration and conservation, and ensuring that forestry is better integrated into National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans. Legal harvesting, reduction of businesses' negative impact on supply chains, and the creation of incentives to keep forests standing are highlighted as critical steps in maintaining forest biodiversity and combating deforestation. These efforts should be linked to KMGBF Targets 5, 9, 10, 11, 15, and 18.

In addition, despite their unique nature, forests are frequently pooled with other types of ecosystems in terms of conservation, restoration and sustainable management of biodiversity. This means they often don’t receive the attention they need, the report underlines.

The Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) is an inter-agency partnership, consisting of international organizations with substantial programmes on forests. The CBD is one of 16 organizations that form the CPF, its members work together to support countries in scaling up forest action to maintain biodiversity, adapt and mitigate to climate change and advance sustainable development.

The Forest and Water Day panels on the linkages between forests to people, climate change and sustainable economy concluded with powerful messages:

• Healthy forests play a critical role in supplying clean water, as 75% of the world’s accessible water comes from forests. This underpins the need for a more integrated approach, mutual awareness and recognition among the water and forest authorities to address these issues in a more coherent way.
• Not all forest biodiversity is renewable - high-integrity, old-growth and primary forests could be lost irreversibly. Applying biodiversity-inclusive spatial planning and expanding protected areas and OECM will help to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030.
• All forests matter - we should elevate the role of dryland forests, temperate and boreal forests for biodiversity, livelihood, food and water security and climate regulation.
• To secure the largest terrestrial carbon sink, we should give priority to restoring multi-functional forests and landscapes, including limiting monoculture plantations and prioritizing native species adapted to the new ecological conditions of the area. 
• We must secure the rights and tenure of indigenous peoples and local communities. Indigenous knowledge systems should be integrated into monitoring frameworks, ensuring that indigenous peoples and local communities are not only beneficiaries but also active participants and partners in evaluating biodiversity conservation outcomes.
• With the increasing global demand for wood and non-wood forest products, sustainable forest management is crucial for achieving development, societal and biodiversity objectives. SFM should be supported by ensuring legal harvesting and trade of forest species and wildlife, reduction of negative impact of businesses in commodity production and supply chains and incentives to keep forests standing 
• Substantial, integrated and equitable financial resources should be delivered to forests, indigenous peoples and local communities to support local conservation efforts and sustainable development.

All goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework are deeply rooted in forests and forest sectors. We should see all KMGBF targets translated into ambitious and achievable national commitments in the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action plans (NBSAPs) addressing multifaceted challenges faced by forests. 

Forest & Water Day:

Catch up on everything that happened at Forest & Water Day at COP16, in Cali, Colombia.