With only a few years left until the 2030 deadline for a crucial roadmap on reversing deforestation and forest degradation, capable leadership is needed to take forward the work and possible recommendations. With that leadership in place, the COP30 Presidency Roadmap on halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation (the COP30 Presidency Roadmap) can achieve far greater and faster implementation. 

The Brazilian Presidency put forests at the center of COP30, hosting the climate conference in Belém, Brazil—a town in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. A key priority was demonstrating progress in halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, a target set by the first global stocktake (GST1) in 2023.  

Ahead of and during COP30, governments and civil society campaigned for a roadmap to halt and reverse deforestation. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) 2025 Global Forests Assessment Report, deforestation has slowed but the world is still off track to meet the goal. While there were many countries calling for the COP30 Presidency Roadmap as a formal outcome at COP30, consensus was not reached. However, acknowledging the desire for one, the COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago announced that he would set out the COP30 Presidency Roadmap under the Presidency’s responsibility.  

In his 12th letter released in January 2026, the COP30 President reaffirmed the commitment to delivering on the COP30 Presidency Roadmap. The letter anchors the COP30 Presidency Roadmap in the GST, ensuring the COP30 Presidency Roadmap is tied to the collective assessment of the progress towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. Looking ahead to COP31 and the launch of the GST2, Parties could consider the role of the COP30 Presidency Roadmap, including its recommendations, as an input to GST2 starting at COP31. The COP30 Presidency called for submissions on barriers, levers, best practice and lessons learned for halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation. You can find C2ES’ submission here. 

While welcome, the COP30 Presidency Roadmap raises questions about who will lead the implementation of the Roadmap, its contents, and timeline. For instance, if the COP30 Presidency Roadmap is to be published at the end of 2026, what happens from 2027-2030? How will momentum drive achievement of the 2030 goal? 

The landscape of organizations and leaders dedicated to halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation is a fragmented one. Globally recognized leadership has yet to emerge to take forward this issue and drive its effective implementation.  

Leadership is needed to drive networks, organizations, and coalitions of countries in relation to halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation to coordinate their efforts more effectively in pursuit of the 2030 goal. The COP30 Presidency has an opportunity to convene a global forum or a task force to identify and endorse leadership that can focus on delivering the goal of halting and reversing deforestation. Such leadership should use innovative thinking to drive global forest conservation, have experience in successfully implementing forest conservation policies and programs, deploy diplomatic skills to foster enhancing international cooperation, and have expertise in mechanisms such as payment for ecosystem services and results-based payments. 

Alternatively, the COP30 Presidency Roadmap could explicitly outline a coalition of the willing to enhance implementation and bring together countries, institutions, and initiatives to collectively assume a leadership role. However, the COP30 Presidency Roadmap would need to clearly identify who is responsible for driving action and tracking progress. This approach could also be linked to the Global Climate Action Agenda under Axis 2 – stewarding forests, oceans and biodiversity, which includes a coalition working on forests and climate.    

To enhance the COP30 Presidency’s Roadmap credibility and impact, the COP30 Presidency could further consider addressing the following elements: 

• Synergies across the Rio Conventions: 2026 is a triple COP year—there is a COP for the three Rio Conventions (Biological Diversity, Climate Change and Desertification), offering an opportunity to align efforts. The COP30 Presidency Roadmap could include concrete recommendations for enhancing cooperation across the Rio Conventions on the 2030 goal. 

• International cooperation: Halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation is a global challenge that cannot be addressed solely through isolated national action. Enhanced international cooperation—a key mandate of the GST—must be a core pillar of the COP30 Presidency Roadmap. 

• Sustainable agriculture: As agriculture remains the primary driver of deforestation, including in the COP30 Presidency Roadmap ways to transform to sustainable agriculture could be part of the solutions.  

• Addressing existing gaps and advancing national deforestation strategies: Consideration could be given to critical gaps in coordination, and finance, and accelerating the development and implementation of national strategies to the 2030 goal. 

With 2030 fast approaching, urgent action is needed to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation, while also clearly addressing who will take the lead in driving this work forward. 

 Find more resources from C2ES related to these issues here.