Pathways to Just and Deforestation-Free Landscapes

Halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, as enshrined in the first Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement, requires addressing the underlying economic and structural drivers. These include unsustainable commodity production, land use change, illegal logging and other forms of environmental crime, deforestation as well as growing demand for biomass linked to the energy transition. Tackling these drivers requires a coordinated and coherent approach across global supply chains and forest governance that safeguards biodiversity, ecosystem integrity and natural carbon sinks while supporting sustainable livelihoods.

Building on the COP 30 Presidency-led roadmap on halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation, this high-level event will explore how regulatory frameworks, environmental enforcement, national policies, economic incentives and international cooperation can reinforce one another. It will examine how to move beyond regulatory compliance towards addressing the root causes of deforestation, while decoupling bioenergy and agricultural production from deforestation and land-use change.

The side event will draw on diverse but complementary experiences in international cooperation. grounded in concrete implementation experience, including the launch of a new €12.6 million IKI project in Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru, which seeks to connect EU regulatory compliance with climate resilience, nature conservation, sustainable value chains, ecosystem restoration and social justice, Germany’s engagement in tackling illegal deforestation and environmental crime , as well as UNEP-led science-policy dialogues on forests and bioenergy. Together, these perspectives will inform discussions on how to strengthen policy coherence and international cooperation to address deforestation drivers and advance just, sustainable and deforestation-free landscapes.