AXIS 2

Stewarding Forests, Oceans and Biodiversity

OBJECTIVE 5

Investments to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation

OBJECTIVE 6

Efforts to conserve, protect and restore nature and ecosystems with solutions for climate, biodiversity and desertification

OBJECTIVE 7

Efforts to preserve and restore oceans and coastal ecosystems

AXIS 2

At a glance

Across Axis 2, progress is evident in conservation efforts. However, these advances have not yet reversed the continuing degradation of forests and ecosystems.

Global progress

  • Deforestation slowed in 2025 (nearly 14 per cent decrease in comparison with 2024)
  • 11.8 million hectares are under active restoration with projects in 2026 (up from 10.6 Mha in 2024)
  • Marine protected areas reached 10 per cent in 2025 (up from 8.4 per cent in 2024 and from 4.1 per cent in 2015)

Remaining gaps

  • Despite a significant reduction since 2018, forest degradation persists at a high level and has ticked up recently (from 63 Mha in 2022 to 65.4 Mha in 2024)
  • Significant gaps remain in harmonizing monitoring frameworks across the three Rio Conventions.

CCIs reporting progress under NAZCA

Thirteen of the 83 Cooperative Climate Initiatives (CCIs) that reported progress to NAZCA under the common reporting framework identify their climate-related goals as contributing to Axis 2. Advocacy, policy engagement and awareness-raising is the most frequently represented CCI function, with a strong focus on ‘resilience’ and ‘adaptation’, while Advocacy and policy engagement and Generation of knowledge products are the most frequently reported action types.

Plans to Accelerate Solutions

  • Total PAS under this axis: 12, covering 3 objectives
  • Number of PAS sharing progress in the October 2026 reporting round: 12

COP 31 priorities

Rio Synergies, seeking to align the objectives of the three Rio Conventions, and the ocean and seas, with a focus on protecting marine ecosystems and unlocking blue carbon for climate resilience.

AXIS 2 / SECTION I

Global Climate Action in 2026 - Insights from the UNFCCC Climate Weeks

The Global Climate Action Agenda (GCAA) presents opportunities to advance and accelerate implementation at scale. It is in that spirit that Climate Weeks in Yeosu, Republic of Korea (CW3, held in April) and Baku, Azerbaijan (CW4, September), brought together a broad range of stakeholders – including national delegations, subnational governments and non‑Party stakeholders (NPS) – with a strong focus on showcasing practical climate solutions, including those linked to stewarding forests, oceans and biodiversity.

During these events, country examples illustrated how adaptation action is increasingly being translated into concrete solutions that reinforce the resilience of oceans and coastal areas, among others, delivering broad-based positive outcomes. In Bangladesh, for instance, integrated coastal resilience initiatives are combining livelihood diversification, water security and community capacity-building to reduce vulnerability in climate-exposed areas. Through local success stories – like Nepal’s community forestry programme (where 23,000 local groups have restored millions of hectares of forest) – climate weeks illustrated that empowering communities can deliver big wins for both climate and livelihoods.

The Implementation Forums organized during CW3 and CW4 were focused on supporting efforts to accelerate climate action by creating a dedicated space where Parties and NPS could meet on equal footing to exchange practical solutions, align priorities, and collectively discuss how to move from ambition to implementation at scale. Under Axis 2, two of the lead high-impact, scalable solutions emerging from the Implementation Labs and Impact Dialogues are described below:

CW3

Costa Rica’s Payments for Environmental Services (PES) Across Land and Sea

Costa Rica showcased a mature and adaptable payments for environmental services (PES) model, now being extended beyond forests into fisheries, agricultural landscapes, and sustainable branding (“Planet Avo”). By rewarding producers and resource managers directly for ecosystem stewardship, Costa Rica demonstrates how nature protection, livelihoods and markets can be aligned.

The solution goes beyond conservation by embedding incentives across value chains, creating both environmental and economic returns.

Key implementation value

  • Proven national model with decades of experience
  • Replicable incentive structure adaptable to different ecosystems
  • Directly benefits communities while delivering biodiversity outcomes
CW4

Integrating water across climate planning, policy and investment pipelines through Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action

The River Revived Sheki initiative in Azerbaijan combines river restoration, irrigation rehabilitation, ecosystem protection, cultural heritage preservation and sustainable tourism development within a single implementation framework, demonstrating how water investments can simultaneously strengthen resilience, livelihoods and local economic development.

Building on examples such as Sheki, the Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action is developing a work programme around three workstreams, through which the Dialogue is intended to move countries from commitments to implementation by supporting stronger integration of water into NDCs, NAPs and investment pipelines while providing continuity across COP cycles.

Key implementation value

  • Creates a permanent coordination mechanism that brings together different stakeholders around country implementation needs
  • Improves policy coherence by integrating water into NDCs, NAPs, adaptation planning and broader climate strategies
  • Connects evidence, finance and delivery, helping translate water priorities into investable projects, stronger institutions and practical actions on the ground

AXIS 2 / SECTION II

Progress on global socio-economic indicators (GSIs)

Across Axis 2, progress is evident in conservation efforts. However, these advances have not yet reversed the continuing degradation of forests and ecosystems.

INDICATORS AT A GLANCE

5 of 11

Indicators show progress

2 of 11

Indicators show no progress

4 of 11

Indicators have insufficient data

4 new

Indicators added this year

Under Objective 5, the data show that deforestation slowed in 2025. Also, despite a significant reduction since 2018, forest degradation persists at a high level and has ticked up recently (from 63 Mha in 2022 to 65.4 Mha in 2024). Forests still receive less than one per cent of global climate finance representing an estimated USD 66.8 billion annual finance gap.

Under Objective 6, there are now 11.8 million hectares under active restoration projects, up from 10.6 Mha in 2024. No global indicator yet tracks ecosystem integrity, biodiversity recovery, long term effectiveness or desertification, a gap the COP 31 focus on Rio Synergies makes more pressing.

Under Objective 7, marine protected areas have more than doubled in the past decade, from 4.1 per cent of the ocean in 2015 to 10 per cent in 2025, still well short of the 30 per cent conservation target under the CBD’s Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) for 2030. Global Mangrove Watch now estimates mangrove extent at around 150,000 km² (2025), but a change in methodology means this cannot be compared with the earlier estimate of about 137,000 km² (2020).

AXIS 2 / SECTION III

Progress of plans and initiatives

NAZCA

Distribution of CCIs by Function and Climate Focus – Axis 2 - Stewarding Forests, Oceans and Biodiversity

Advocacy, policy engagement and awareness-raising is the most frequently represented CCI function, closely followed by Implementation of projects. Knowledge production, sharing and capacity-building appears less frequently, while Mobilization of finance and financial approaches is reported by a smaller group. The distribution points to a combination of advocacy and practical project implementation.

Data as of October 2026

Explore the full overview on NAZCA

Highlights of initiative self-tracking progress

Highlights of CCI self-reported action

The information in the highlights of CCI self-reported action was directly submitted by CCIs and, therefore, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the secretariat.

Plans to Accelerate Solutions

Plans to Accelerate Solutions (PAS) are practical, time-bound roadmaps that bring together policy, finance, and delivery around specific challenges.
A total of 12 PAS under Axis 2 cover all three objectives. In the October 2026 reporting round, 12 PAS submitted progress reports.

List of activation groups and PAS

AXIS 2 / SECTION IV

COP 31 Action Agenda

Integrating solutions where climate, biodiversity, and desertification converge through Rio Synergies and protecting the Ocean and Seas

As regions around the world confront a multidimensional environmental crisis where drought, water scarcity, land degradation, and wildfires reinforce one another, the COP 31 Action Agenda stresses the need for integrated approaches and solutions where climate, biodiversity, and desertification converge. This approach seeks to align the objectives of the three Rio Conventions (UNFCCC, the Convention to Combat Desertification – UNCCD – and the Convention on Biological Diversity – CBD) into a single, mutually reinforcing line of on-the-ground action.

The year of 2026 also marks a triple COP cycle for the Rio Conventions, with UNCCD and CBD also convening before UNFCCC’s COP 31. UNCCD’s COP 17 was held in August, in Mongolia, under the theme Restoring Land. Restoring Hope. CBD held its COP 17 in October, in Armenia, marking the first global review of collective progress towards the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

EXPLAINER — RIO CONVENTIONS SYNERGIES

The Rio Conventions work hand in hand to align efforts on ecosystem restoration, sustainable land management and nature-based climate solutions in recognition of the need for an integrated response to address these interconnected challenges.

Strengthening synergies across policies, data, capacity-building and science ensures that actions in one area support and accelerate progress in others. Joint work enhances national implementation, fosters inclusive governance and advances shared global Sustainable Development Goals. Integrated solutions that tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation together include:

  • Nature-based solutions (NbS) – protecting and restoring ecosystems to absorb carbon, conserve biodiversity and enhance resilience – and Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) – using natural systems to help communities adapt to climate impacts
  • Sustainable land use – ensuring agriculture, forestry and other land uses maintain ecosystem health

Ocean & blue carbon priority

Another priority of the COP 31 GCAA is protecting marine ecosystems and unlocking blue carbon for climate resilience. The aim is to strengthen ocean-climate action through enhanced observation, data sharing, and regional cooperation. Given the oceans' critical foundation for resilience, food security, livelihoods and economic stability, scaling ocean-based solutions can help translate global ambition into place-based delivery and strengthen the role indigenous people, coastal communities and entrepreneurs as actors of change and solution leaders.

Zero Waste Package

The Zero Waste Package also aims at supporting efforts to reduce pollution pressures on terrestrial and marine ecosystems, recognizing the contribution of circular economy and zero waste approaches to ecosystem restoration, biodiversity conservation and the reduction of waste leakage into rivers and oceans.

AXIS 2 / SECTION V

Global Climate Action at COP 31

A summary of Global Climate Action solutions under Axis 2 showcased during COP 31 will be made available here during the Conference. The GCA programme at COP 31 is available here.