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DPA
Glasgow
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hailed a pledge by more than 100 international leaders to end the “great chainsaw massacre” of the world’s forests.
On the second day of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, 110 nations - covering 85 percent of the world’s forests - signed a declaration to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030. Summit host Johnson said the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius cannot be achieved without protecting the natural environment and ending the “devastating” loss of forests which are the “lungs of our planet.”
The British government said the pledges have been backed by 8.75 billion pounds (11.94 billion dollars) of public funding with a further 5.3 billion pounds in private investment. It includes 2 billion dollars from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for land restoration in Africa - double what he previously committed just a day earlier at an event with Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne. Speaking on Tuesday, Charles called for the “re-engineering” of the world’s financial and economic system to disincentivise deforestation and reward countries for the pursuit of a “forest-positive economy.”
The deforestation initiative was also backed by US President Joe Biden, who said forests have the potential to reduce carbon globally by more than a third. “We need to approach this issue with the same seriousness of process as decarbonising our economy.
The land covered by the agreement spans an area of more than 13 million square miles - from the northern forests of Canada and Russia to the tropical rain forests of Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Paul de Zylva, senior sustainability analyst at Friends of the Earth, said the test of the declaration will be whether it cuts the funding of ecologically damaging development.
“Banks and governments purporting to protect the world’s forests will be judged by whether they stop financing harmful development projects, as well as putting a stop to rearing cattle and crops like soy, which have driven the dreadful demise of forests, often with human rights abuses,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US and EU are launching an initiative aimed at driving global efforts to reduce emissions of methane, a powerful but relatively short-lived greenhouse gas which comes from sources including fossil fuel extraction and livestock farming, as a significant short-term contribution to climate action.
Glasgow
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hailed a pledge by more than 100 international leaders to end the “great chainsaw massacre” of the world’s forests.
On the second day of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, 110 nations - covering 85 percent of the world’s forests - signed a declaration to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030. Summit host Johnson said the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius cannot be achieved without protecting the natural environment and ending the “devastating” loss of forests which are the “lungs of our planet.”
The British government said the pledges have been backed by 8.75 billion pounds (11.94 billion dollars) of public funding with a further 5.3 billion pounds in private investment. It includes 2 billion dollars from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for land restoration in Africa - double what he previously committed just a day earlier at an event with Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne. Speaking on Tuesday, Charles called for the “re-engineering” of the world’s financial and economic system to disincentivise deforestation and reward countries for the pursuit of a “forest-positive economy.”
The deforestation initiative was also backed by US President Joe Biden, who said forests have the potential to reduce carbon globally by more than a third. “We need to approach this issue with the same seriousness of process as decarbonising our economy.
The land covered by the agreement spans an area of more than 13 million square miles - from the northern forests of Canada and Russia to the tropical rain forests of Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Paul de Zylva, senior sustainability analyst at Friends of the Earth, said the test of the declaration will be whether it cuts the funding of ecologically damaging development.
“Banks and governments purporting to protect the world’s forests will be judged by whether they stop financing harmful development projects, as well as putting a stop to rearing cattle and crops like soy, which have driven the dreadful demise of forests, often with human rights abuses,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US and EU are launching an initiative aimed at driving global efforts to reduce emissions of methane, a powerful but relatively short-lived greenhouse gas which comes from sources including fossil fuel extraction and livestock farming, as a significant short-term contribution to climate action.
