Posted on December, 12 2024

It is hard to sum up a year in a few paragraphs, especially a year as full as 2024. This year brought its share of challenges – fires, record-breaking temperatures and low ambition on urgent nature and climate policy priorities. But the progress we have made and the partnerships that continue to drive action and accountability give me hope for the future. 

Here are highlights of some of WWF’s most noteworthy forest achievements this year:

• Protected and Conserved Areas: WWF and partners made strong strides on advancing protection and conservation of forests. Highlights include the establishment of the 68,000 hectare Serrania de Manacacias National Park in Colombia, and the signing of a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) initiative in Bolivia.
• Forest Sector Transformation: WWF’s Forests Forward program continues to gain momentum, with 24 companies now on board. These partners are actively improving forest management, supporting deforestation- and conversion-free agriculture, and investing in key forest landscapes. Forests Forward helps companies harness the power of nature to achieve ambitious sustainability, social, and business goals. Investing in sustainable forest management remains a cornerstone of our forest conservation efforts. It was heartening to see new science showing that forests under FSC management in Gabon and the Republic of Congo had more large mammals and critically endangered species than non-FSC certified forests. This reinforces the value of responsible forest management practices in safeguarding biodiversity.
• Progress on forest finance: While outcomes on finance from UN Biodiversity COP16 and UN Climate COP29 fell short of our expectations, progress outside the negotiations offers hope. The Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF), for example, promises a sustained revenue source to reward countries that keep their forests standing. In the Congo Basin, WWF continues to collaborate with governments and partners on finance for high integrity forests in the region.
• Addressing systemic drivers of deforestation: Tackling systemic drivers of forest loss is crucial for long-term change. We are engaging in discussions on rechanneling harmful agricultural subsidies with our new report that lays out a framework for repurposing.
• Restoring forest landscapes: WWF’s Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) in Africa program achieved remarkable progress, with over 2 million hectares under restoration across nine countries. These efforts are pivotal in reversing degradation, fostering resilient ecosystems, supporting livelihoods and protecting wildlife.

This is just a glimpse of the work happening across WWF with our many partners around the world. This is not easy work, and we face daunting challenges. But our forest community is constantly pushing for solutions, innovating, adapting, creating new partnerships, and finding new ways to scale impact and create positive change.

While we know that forest targets set for 2025 will not be achieved, we cannot lose sight of our ambitions. We are doubling down on calls for greater accountability, increased finance, and robust implementation of commitments. Our planet’s future depends on it.

Fran Price is Leader of WWF's Global Forest Practice.