By Abbas Nazil
Environmental organisations WWF and Greenpeace have jointly called on COP30 delegates to adopt a binding roadmap aimed at halting and reversing global deforestation by 2030.
The appeal, made on November 18, 2025, comes as Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pushed for two major roadmaps at the climate summit: one to phase out fossil fuels and another to preserve forests.
Kirsten Schuijt, director general of WWF International, emphasised that achieving the Paris Agreement targets is impossible without decisive action on forest protection.
She described COP30 as a historic opportunity to close the gap between ambition and implementation, urging countries to move beyond symbolic commitments.
Carolina Pasquali, executive director of Greenpeace Brazil, reinforced that vague pledges are insufficient, calling for a concrete, time-bound action plan to end deforestation across all forests by 2030.
The organisations highlighted that rainforests, particularly the Amazon, are nearing irreversible tipping points, citing recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Prominent scientists, including Johan Rockström of the Potsdam Institute and Carlos Nobre of the University of São Paulo, have warned of the urgent need for forest conservation.
Indigenous peoples and local communities have actively engaged at COP30, demanding secure land rights and stronger deforestation protections, underscoring the social dimension of forest preservation.
The proposed roadmap calls for guidance on implementing national deforestation plans, reforming financial systems, addressing agricultural drivers of forest loss, improving monitoring, and establishing mechanisms to track progress.
The organisations stressed that effective international cooperation and enforcement are crucial to ensure commitments are translated into measurable action, rather than remaining symbolic gestures.
Without immediate, binding measures, experts warn that forest degradation will continue to undermine global climate targets, biodiversity, and the livelihoods of millions of people dependent on forest ecosystems.
