While Colombian President Gustavo Petro wants other countries to match his pledge to ban new oil exploration, Brazil is considering exploring new areas at the mouth of the Amazon river….reports Asian Lite News
The eight countries that share the Amazon basin have fallen short of an agreed goal to end deforestation, leaving each nation to pursue its own conservation goals.
Delegates from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela have assembled in the Braziliancity of Belem for a two-day summit on the issue, the first such gathering in 14 years, reports the BBC.
A joint statement on Tuesday, named the Belem declaration, created a new alliance to combat deforestation, but left each country to pursue its own conservation goals.
It also said the new alliance would aim to “prevent the Amazon from reaching a point of no return”.
The statement also included commitments to enhance co-operation on issues like water management, health, sustainable development and common negotiating positions at global climate summits.
Addressing the “severe worsening of the climate crisis” in his opening speech at the summit on Tuesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said “the challenges of our era, and the opportunities arising from them, demand we act in unison”.
“It has never been so urgent,” the BBC quoted the President as saying.
Differences in opinion however, was witnessed at the summit.
While Colombian President Gustavo Petro wants other countries to match his pledge to ban new oil exploration, Brazil is considering exploring new areas at the mouth of the Amazon river.
The summit came less than a week after it was revealed that the level of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has dropped to its lowest since 2017.
According to the data shared by the Brazilian space agency Inpe on Aug 3, 500 sq km of rainforest were cleared the country last month which was 66 per cent less compared to July 2022, reports the BBC.
Inpe said that the area of forest cut down in the first seven months of 2023 was smaller than that razed in the same period in 2022.
When President Lula took office in January, he had promised to halt the damage done during his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro’s four-year term.
Bolsonaro had promoted mining in indigenous lands in the Amazon and forest clearances soared at the same time as resources to protect the forest were cut.
Preserving the Amazon is a central part of efforts to tackle climate change.
The rainforest is a crucial buffer in the global fight against climate change and 60 per cent of it is located in Brazil.
The billions of trees that make up the Amazon, often called “the lungs of the planet”, hold vast amounts of carbon, accumulated over centuries, and every year their leaves continue to absorb carbon dioxide that would otherwise remain in the atmosphere and contribute to the rise in global temperatures.
The pledge to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation is backed by almost £14 billion ($19.2 billion) in public and private funding, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk
In the biggest step forward in protecting the world’s forests in a generation, more than 100 leaders will commit to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 at an event convened by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson at COP26 Climate Change Conference today.
The pledge is backed by almost £14 billion ($19.2 billion) in public and private funding.
Countries spanning from the northern forests of Canada and Russia to the tropical rainforests of Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will endorse the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forest and Land Use. Together, they contain 85% of the world’s forests, an area of over 13 million square miles.
Forests are absorbing around one-third of the global CO2 released from burning fossil fuels every year, but the world is losing them at an alarming rate. An area of forest the size of 27 football pitches is lost every minute.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to say at the Forest & Land Use event at COP26: “Today, at COP26, leaders have signed a landmark agreement to protect and restore the earth’s forests.”
“These great teeming ecosystems – these cathedrals of nature – are the lungs of our planet. Forests support communities, livelihoods and food supply, and absorb the carbon we pump into the atmosphere. They are essential to our very survival,”
“With today’s unprecedented pledges, we will have a chance to end humanity’s long history as nature’s conqueror, and instead become its custodian,” Johnson will say.
The commitment will be supported by a pledge to provide £8.75bn ($12bn) of public finance from 12 countries, including the UK, from 2021 – 2025. This will support activities in developing countries, including restoring degraded land, tackling wildfires and supporting the rights of indigenous communities.
This will go alongside at least £5.3 billion ($7.2 billion) of newly-mobilised private sector funding. CEOs from more than 30 financial institutions with over $8.7 trillion of global assets – including Aviva, Schroders and Axa – will also commit to eliminate investment in activities linked to deforestation.
President of Colombia Iván Duque said: “Colombia is proud to endorse the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use. The Declaration is a landmark commitment from countries to work together to end deforestation and all land degradation within the next decade.”
“Never before have so many leaders, from all regions, representing all types of forests, joined forces in this way and Colombia is committed to playing its part. We will enshrine in law a commitment to net-zero deforestation by 2030 – one of the most ambitious commitments in Latin America – and to protecting 30% of our land and ocean resources by 2030.”
“Now we must all work in partnership with businesses, the finance sector, smallholder farmers, Indigenous Peoples and local communities to create the conditions for forest-positive economies to grow and thrive,” he added.
President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo said: “Indonesia is blessed as the most carbon rich country in the world on vast rainforests, mangroves, oceans and peatlands. We are committed to protecting these critical carbon sinks and our natural capital for future generations.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to his seat next to David Attenborough after giving the opening statement at the COP26 summit. Picture by Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street
“We call on all countries to support sustainable development paths that strengthen the livelihoods of communities – especially indigenous, women and smallholders,” he added.
The UK will commit £1.5bn over five years to support the forests pledge, including £350m for tropical forests in Indonesia, and £200m for the LEAF Coalition.
The UK will also contribute £200m, alongside 11 other donors, as part of a new £1.1 billion ($1.5bn) fund to protect the Congo Basin. The area is home to the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world which is threatened by industrial logging, mining and agriculture.
Governments representing 75% of global trade in key commodities that can threaten forests – such as palm oil, cocoa and soya – will also sign up to a new Forests, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Statement. The 28 governments are committing to a common set of actions to deliver sustainable trade and reduce pressure on forests, including support for smallholder farmers and improving the transparency of supply chains.
Currently almost a quarter (23%) of global emissions come from land use activity, such as logging, deforestation and farming. Protecting forests and ending damaging land use is one of the most important things the world can do to limit catastrophic global warming, while also protecting the lives and futures of the 1.6 billion people worldwide – nearly 25% of the world’s population – who rely on forests for their livelihoods.
Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Store said Norway will continue and further develop its International Climate and Forest Initiative at high levels until 2030.
The Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge watch HM The Queen video message to the COP26 World leaders as they join the Prime Minister Boris Johnson at an evening Royal Reception at Kelvingrove Museum as part of the COP26 World Leaders Summit Day in Glasgow. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street
“We’re excited to be part of a growing coalition of donors and companies mobilising to reduce deforestation and enable a just rural transition. I am particularly pleased that we are joining forces to secure Indigenous Peoples’ rights and increase the recognition of their role as forest guardians,” he added.
Among those speaking alongside the Prime Minister Boris Johnson are Prince Charles, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, Columbian President Ivan Duque, US President Joe Biden, Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
