More than a hundred country leaders representing more than 85% of global forests, Tuesday took the commitment to put an end to deforestation and land degradation by 2030.
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For the World Climate Conference (COP26) that he welcomes in Scotland, Boris Johnson had set four priorities: getting commitments in the “coal, cars, cars , money and trees “. Tuesday, November 2, the British Prime Minister and already rejoice to have checked a box: more than a hundred leaders made the commitment, by The bias of a” Glasgow Declaration “, of put an end to deforestation and land degradation by 2030.
These states, including Russia, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, China or Canada account for more than 85% of global forests. Brazil of President Jair Bolsonaro, where the deforestation of the Amazon has reached records, is also part of the signatories.
Through this short text, these countries promise to facilitate trade practices that do not lead to deforestation, to implement policies encouraging sustainable agriculture or to align financial flows with these international objectives of protection of these Ecosystems.
Carbon sinks
“We can not deal with the devastating loss of habitats and species without fighting climate change, and we can not deal with climate change without protecting our natural environment and respect the rights of indigenous peoples”, insisted Boris Johnson. All the scenarios of the Intergovernmental Expert Group on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasize that limiting warming necessarily involves better protecting forests, which constitute one of the main carbon sinks on the planet.
In 2014, the New York Declaration, adopted by some thirty countries, and dozens of indigenous peoples and civil society organizations, planned to halve the rhythm of forest disappearance. Natural in the world by 2020 and stop their loss by 2030. But since its adoption, deforestation has steadily increased, and even accelerating. According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), an American reflection center, some 258,000 km 2 of forests, an area larger than the United Kingdom, still disappeared last year.
“Compared to 2014, there are more committed countries and more money on the table,” says Ana Yang, Executive Director of the Sustainability Program at Chatham House, a British Reflection Center. In parallel with the signing of the Glasgow Declaration, eleven countries – including France – and the European Union committed to putting on the table 10.3 billion euros by 2025 in favor of the fight against the deforestation. To this sum should be added more than 6 billion euros of private investment.
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