More than 100 world leaders pledge to end deforestation by 2030

More than 100 world leaders pledged on Monday evening, November 1, to end deforestation and land degradation by the end of this decade.

The joint statement issued at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow was joined by leaders from countries such as Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which together account for 85 percent of the world's forests.

A statement issued by the British Prime Minister's Office on behalf of world leaders says the declaration covers more than 13 million square miles.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the statement as unprecedented, saying: "We will have the opportunity to end the current course of history, a course in which humanity is the conqueror of nature, when it should be the guardian of nature."

To achieve this goal, a range of governments and private companies have designed initiatives, including committing billions of dollars to sustainable agriculture and forest stewardship by indigenous peoples.

According to an assessment by the nonprofit World Resources Institute, forests absorb approximately 30 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted. Forests remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and prevent global warming.

But this natural climate shield is rapidly disappearing. The world lost an estimated 258,000 square kilometers of forest in 2020 alone, an area larger than the United Kingdom.

Monday's agreement is an important complement to the agreement reached in New York in 2014 between 40 countries on forest protection, and brings humanity closer than ever to securing the resources needed for this purpose.

Under the agreement, 12 countries, including the UK, have pledged to provide £8.75 billion ($12 billion) to developing countries to protect forests between 2021 and 2025.

More than 30 private investors have pledged £5.3 billion, while five countries, including the UK and the US, and a group of global charities have announced they will commit $1.7 billion to protect forests in the hands of indigenous peoples.

Environmental activists say that indigenous people are the best protectors of their forests, but they are often subjected to violence by loggers and land grabbers.

Source: Radio Farda