India, Oct. 16 -- Global deforestation declined by 15% in 2025 to seven million hectares, but the world remains off track to meet its goal of halting deforestation by 2030, according to the Forest Declaration Assessment 2026.

The world has accumulated a deforestation reduction shortfall of 10.7 million hectares since 2021, while 65.4 million hectares of forest were downgraded to a lower ecological integrity category in 2024.

Tropical Latin America and the Caribbean reduced deforestation to 33% below the 2018-2020 baseline, while forest loss continued to rise in tropical Africa.

Forest protection and restoration received just $6 billion, or 0.3% of global climate finance, in 2024, while only 29% of assessed major companies had comprehen...