More than 100 states have pledged in Glasgow to stop the destruction of forests and other landscapes by the end of the decade. Climate activists criticized the target date as too late.
The heads of state and government at the UN climate conference COP26 want to commit to an intensified fight against deforestation in order to combat global warming. According to a joint declaration planned for Tuesday, deforestation is to be stopped by 2030, as the British summit organizers announced on Tuesday night. The signatories also include Brazil and Russia. Climate activists criticized the target date as too late.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stressed the importance of forests in achieving the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era, according to a speech distributed in advance. “These great teeming ecosystems, these cathedrals of nature, are the lungs of our planet,” the text said. With the adoption of the voluntary commitment to forest protection planned for Tuesday, mankind has the chance to go from being a “conqueror” to being the guardian of nature.
The end of deforestation was announced in 2014
According to the UK government, behind the declaration are more than one hundred heads of state and government, whose countries together are home to more than 85 percent of the world’s forests, including the boreal Canadian forest, the Amazon rainforest in Brazil and the tropical rainforest in the Congo Basin. The project is supported with almost 20 billion dollars (17 billion euros) in financial commitments from public and private funds.
The British government described the project as “unprecedented”. However, the participants at a UN climate change meeting in New York announced in 2014 that they would halve the deforestation rate by 2020 and stop deforestation by 2030. Nevertheless, the deforestation continues unchecked on an industrial scale, not least in the Amazon rainforest under the government of the right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Summit plans also include indigenous rights
However, Brazil is also one of the signatories of the declaration planned for Tuesday to halt deforestation by 2030. Bolsonaro also announced via video message in Glasgow that his country’s greenhouse gas emissions will be halved by 2030 compared to 2005. According to Brazil’s Environment Minister Joaquim Leite, the country aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
The summit plans to stop deforestation by 2030 also include pledges to uphold indigenous rights. Their “role as guardians of the forests” should be recognized.
The nature conservation organization Greenpeace criticized the Glasgow initiative. This practically gives the green light “for another decade of deforestation”. Natives rightly demanded that 80 percent of the Amazon should be protected by 2025. “The climate and nature cannot afford this deal,” criticized Greenpeace.
Source From: Stern
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