Protecting global forest to avoid carbon emissions

The Glasgow Declaration on forests signed at the recent UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) committed to halt forest loss by 2030. Over 141 countries and regions, collectively covering over 90% of global forest, endorsed this declaration, making it by far one of the largest forest protection programs in the world. Avoiding forest loss can generally contribute to climate change mitigation, however, the impacts of the declaration on global CO₂ emissions reduction is still unclear. Here we show that by stopping global forest area loss, a large portion of deforestation-related CO₂ emissions could be reduced, and the socio-economic damage to global society could be largely avoided. Over three quarters of emissions could be reduced over the next three decades, though any delays in implementing the declaration would decrease the avoided emissions. The value of the public goods provided by avoided deforestation could compensate for loss of private goods gained from clearing the land for agriculture. The Glasgow Declaration, if implemented fully and in a timely fashion, could help the world move closer to carbon neutrality.