It is a trillion-dollar question: Why do the poorest in the world continue to languish in poverty while surrounded by a thriving economy? The forest sector accounts for 1 per cent of the global working population, with an estimated annual worth of US $1.5 trillion.
But most of the world’s poorest population — living at $3/day— also inhabit forested areas. It emerges that forestry is not significantly contributing to the decline of poverty among this population despite it being the source of sustenance.
On April 27, 2017, the UN General Assembly adopted the UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2017-2030. This Plan set six Global Forest Goals (GFG) to be met by members by 2030, or in the next four years. The second goal is to enhance forest-based economic, social and environmental benefits. The first Target under this GFG (GFG Target 2.1) is: “Extreme poverty for all forest-dependent people is eradicated.” It is to be met by 2030, like other targets under other GFGs.
The “Global Forest Goals Report 2026” that assesses progress on GFCs, was released on May 11, 2026, during the 21st session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF21). It says, “GFG target 2.1 is off track and renewed efforts must be made to eradicate extreme poverty for all forest-dependent people.” “Countries have reported many actions taken in support of this goal, but serious challenges still remain in relation to improving the livelihoods of forest-dependent people,” says the assessment.
Meeting the GFG 2.1 has bearings on the world meeting some of the critical Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Forestry and its socio-economic and environmental benefits can influence progress of SDG 1 (poverty eradication), SDG 2 (attaining zero hunger), SDG 6 (access to clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) and SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production).
The GFG assessment uses the global extreme poverty decline rate as a proxy to gauge the state of poverty among forest dependent communities. “Sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to many forest-dependent poor, has seen little change, with extreme poverty still close to 46 per cent,” it says. On other hand, there is “partial recovery” in rising extreme poverty in several Asian and Latin American countries.
Extreme poverty rose during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since shown signs of recovery — from 11.4 per cent in 2020 to about 10.3 per cent in 2024. “Forest-linked livelihoods contributed marginally to this recovery, with community forestry, agroforestry and PES programmes generating modest, though localized, income gains for participating households,” the GFG assessment says.
“Data suggest that while forests continue to buffer rural livelihoods and contribute modestly to poverty reduction, there is no substantial global evidence of a significant post-2020 increase in the contribution of the forest sector to poverty eradication.”
It squarely blames the forest sector’s non-significant contribution to poverty reduction to the non-realisation of “the economic and social benefits of forests … constrained by weak market access and limited opportunities for value-added processing and commercialization, especially for NWFPs (non-wood forest produce, or minor forest produces)”. Three-quarters of the world population use NWFP, and as per data quoted in the GFG assessment, its value was $9.4 billion in 2020.
“Other constraints include gaps in business services, inadequate development of standards and marketing problems which result in forest producers and communities remaining at the low-value end of supply chains. In addition, infrastructure and logistics bottlenecks can increase costs and isolate producers from markets,” says the assessment. In fact, according to the assessment, “the share of forest-sector employment declined by about 3.1 per cent between 2011 and 2022.”