SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals – Focus on Forest Finance and Partnerships

Key Points • Funding for forests from official development assistance and other sources has trended upward since 2000, providing reason for cautious optimism. However, finance for REDD+ is in decline. • Private-sector investment remains important. Impact investment, which aims to solve pressing environmental and social problems, could make a significant contribution to the sustainability agenda. • Not all sustainable development finance promotes forest conservation. SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) aims to increase funding for agricultural production, which can incentivise the conversion of forests to farmland. • The policy of zero net deforestation is leading to some important partnerships, including with the financial sector, that aim to ensure deforestation-free commodity supply chains of key agricultural commodities. • Partnerships for sustainable development exist within a neoliberal global economic order, in which net financial flows from the Global South to the Global North negate financial flows for sustainable development.