The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has released two reports focused on forests: a co-benefits analysis of protecting 391 million hectares of high-risk tropical forests; and an assessment of the financial gap hindering sustainable forest management (SFM).

The report titled, ‘High-risk Forests, High-value Returns: A Co-benefits Assessment for Decision-makers,’ finds that high-risk tropical forests, covering roughly the size of the EU, deliver “outsized returns” for society spanning the areas of water regulation, food security, energy and livelihoods, and disaster resilience.

According to the report, these forests keep 2.3 million tonnes of nitrogen pollutants and 527 million tonnes of sediment out of rivers every year, protecting drinking water, safeguarding reservoirs and hydropower, and sustaining irrigation systems. They also recycle between 10% and 14% of regional rainfall, thus helping maintain rainfall patterns and river flows and ensuring reliable water supplies.

The report shows that high-risk forests support the nutritional needs of ten million people every year by sustaining pollinators such as bees, birds, and seed-spreaders. They provide forest products for 25 million low-income people who depend on them for cooking, heating, and supplemental income. These forests also serve as natural buffers against extreme weather, preventing around USD 81 billion in disaster-related losses per year.

The report underscores the need to balance conservation efforts with equitable development. It calls for governments and investors to direct finance towards forests that are most threatened.

Another report titled, ‘2025 State of Finance for Forests: Unlock. Unleash. Realizing Forest Potential Requires Tripling Investment in Forests by 2030,’ estimates the scale of the SFM financing gap. It finds that despite commitments in the UNFCCC, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), annual investment in forests will need to triple by 2030, grow sixfold by 2050, and shift towards protecting forests most at risk from loss if global goals are to be met.

Using 2023 numbers, the report estimates total current annual funding for forests at USD 84 billion, of which 88% (USD 75 billion) comes from domestic public sources, 3% (USD 3 billion) from international public sources, and 9% (USD 7.5 billion) from private finance. Annual funding from public and private sources needs to increase to USD 300 billion by 2030 and USD 498 billion by 2050, according to the report.

The report highlights that the current funding directed to forest conservation, restoration, and sustainable use is not only insufficient – with the annual gap of USD 216 billion by 2030 – but also misdirected. It warns about environmentally harmful agricultural subsidies of over USD 400 billion per year that contribute to the loss of 2.2 million hectares of forest annually.

The report argues that to reconcile economic development with forest protection, capital needs to move away from deforestation-related activities. It calls for fiscal and policy incentives to be realigned with food security and sustainability goals and recommends prioritizing funding for forest protection over forest restoration as the most cost-effective approach.

The reports were launched on 14 October 2025. [Publication: High-risk Forests, High-value Returns: A Co-benefits Assessment for Decision-makers] [Key Messages] [Publication Landing Page] [Publication: 2025 State of Finance for Forests: Unlock. Unleash. Realizing Forest Potential Requires Tripling Investment in Forests by 2030] [Key Messages] [Publication Landing Page] [UNEP Press Release]