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<p>The UK supports protection and conservation of global forests through our £3.87
billion International Climate Fund (ICF). To date, over £500 million has been committed
to support a range of initiatives, including supporting forest governance; sustainable
forestry, agriculture and land management, community forest management, and developing
knowledge and evidence that can contribute to effective and coordinated policies and
strategies. The UK also supports REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and
Forest Degradation, and Conservation, Sustainable Management of Forests, and Enhancement
of Forest Carbon Stocks), through investments in pilot REDD+ projects through the
ICF, and through decisions supportive of the development of REDD+ through the international
climate change negotiations.</p><p>The UK played a key role in developing the New
York Declaration on Forests, endorsed by over 150 governments, private sector stakeholders,
civil society, non-governmental and indigenous community organisations at the United
Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Summit on 23<sup>rd</sup> September 2014. The
Declaration highlights the importance of reducing deforestation and increasing forest
restoration to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius and calls for action. It
sets out an ambitious restoration goal of restoring 150 million hectares of degraded
landscapes and forestlands by 2020 and significantly increasing the rate of global
restoration thereafter, which would restore at least an additional 200 million hectares
by 2030.</p><p>There are a number of important international processes in 2015 that
can also encourage more ambitious outcomes for global re-afforestation and restoration.
The UK will press the case for ambitious, quantitative forest conservation targets
for 2030 in the post-2015 new sustainable development goals, and supports the inclusion
of ambitious outcomes for forests as part of the post-2020 new international climate
agreement. The Bonn Challenge 2.0 will also be an opportunity for countries to bring
forward ambitious forest restoration targets.</p>
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