1 March 2018: The New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) Global Platform held an online session to provide stakeholders with an overview of its goals and to identify opportunities for further engagement as well as contributions to the development of its 2018 work plan. The webinar highlighted how the Platform monitors progress towards the 10 goals of the NYDF as well as plans for launching an online community of practice.

Jamison Ervin of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) opened the meeting, providing an overview of the Declaration and its potential impacts. She highlighted that the 10 goals of the NYDF sync with other global goals such as those laid out in the Bonn Challenge (restore 150 million hectares of degraded land by 2020), the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and its Aichi Biodiversity Targets (halve the loss of natural habitats), as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the ambitions of the Paris Agreement on climate change. She said that forest action alone could get the global community one third of the way to achieving the Paris Agreement.

Ingrid Schulte of Climate Focus then discussed how the Global Platform measures progress towards the 10 goals of the NYDF. She explained that the thinktank, Climate Focus, coordinates with the NYDF Assessment Partners, which is a group of civil society organizations and research institutions mandated with tracking achievement of the goals. Annually, the Assessment Partners, with Climate Focus, publish an NYDF Progress Assessment Report that provides an in-depth review of one or two NYDF goals as well as a brief update on all the goals.

Annually, the NYDF Progress Assessment Report provides an in-depth review of one or two NYDF goals.

In 2015, the Partners proposed a monitoring framework and indicators for measuring progress, and they released an inception report. Their 2016 report focused on goal 2, eliminating deforestation from agricultural commodity supply chains. The third (October 2017) report reviewed the financial support provided to forest emission reduction strategies (goal 8), and rewards for action (goal 9). The fourth report, set for release in Fall 2018, will look at forest governance, the rule of law, and the empowerment of communities and indigenous peoples (goal 10).

Also on monitoring, Maria Garcia-Espinosa of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) discussed a tool developed with the Government of Germany to track progress towards the Bonn Challenge. The tool, she explained, will help monitor policy transformation and institutional capacity. She also pointed out how success factors for restoration are contextual, and that institutional strengthening is needed. She highlighted her hope that the NYDF Global Platform could raise awareness in a way that would support the mobilization of funding and action.

Presenters also discussed the entities endorsing the NYDF, as well as efforts to expand the reach of the Platform. Ervin (UNDP) said that the Platform would launch a new, online community of practice in April 2018. This would allow stakeholders increased visibility to the work of the Platform and present opportunities for further engagement and information sharing among forest actors.

The NYDF is a voluntary and non-binding international declaration on halting global deforestation. It is endorsed by: 40 governments, 20 sub-national governments, 57 multi-national companies, 16 groups representing indigenous communities, and 58 non-government organizations. The webinar was held Thursday, 1 March. The Global Platform is convened by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). [NYDF Global Platform] [Climate Focus webpage of NYDF Assessment Process] [NYDF Assessment Partners] [NYDF Assessment] [SDG Knowledge Hub Sources]