A £ 1.1 billion fund will be set up to protect the world’s largest tropical rainforest.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, GLASGOW – Over 100 world leaders pledged to end and reverse Deforestation by 2030. This is the first major agreement at the COP26 climate summit.
Brazil, where swathes of the Amazon rainforest have been cleared, was among the co-signatories on Tuesday (2/11). Reported in BBC, the commitment includes nearly $ 19.2 billion in public and private funds.
Experts welcome the move, but warn that a previous deal in 2014 failed to completely slow deforestation and that commitments had to be made.
Cutting down trees contributes to climate change by depleting forests that absorb large amounts of warming CO2 gas.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is hosting the global meeting in Glasgow, said more leaders than ever before – 110 in total – have made “historic” commitments.
“We need to stop the destruction of our forests and end the role of humans as conquerors of nature, and instead become the stewards of nature,” Johnson said.
The two-week summit in Glasgow is seen as essential if climate change is to be brought under control. The countries that have signed the pledge, including Canada, Brazil, Russia, China, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United States and the United Kingdom, represent about 85 percent of the forests of the world.
Part of the funds will go to developing countries to restore damaged lands, fight forest fires and support indigenous peoples.
The governments of 28 countries have also pledged to eliminate deforestation from global trade in food and other agricultural products such as palm oil, soybeans and cocoa.
These industries result in the loss of forests by cutting down trees to make room for animals to graze or plants to grow.
More than 30 of the world’s largest financial firms, including Aviva, Schroders and Axa, have also pledged to end their investments in deforestation-related activities.
And a £ 1.1 billion fund will be set up to protect the world’s second largest rainforest in the Congo Basin.
Professor Simon Lewis, climate and forest expert at University College London, said it was good news to have the political commitment to end deforestation in so many countries, and significant funding to go forward in this journey.
“However, the world has already been here with a declaration in 2014 in New York that absolutely failed to slow deforestation,” the professor said. Lewis.
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