Biden, Bolsonaro and Xi among leaders agreeing
deal to end deforestation
Historic declaration at Cop26 commits countries to
ending major cause of CO2 emissions
Patrick
Greenfield, Jonathan Watts, Phoebe Weston and Fiona Harvey
Mon 1 Nov
2021 22.30 GMT
World
leaders have agreed a deal that aims to halt and reverse global deforestation
over the next decade as part of a multibillion-dollar package to tackle
human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
Xi Jinping,
Jair Bolsonaro and Joe Biden are among the leaders who will commit to the
declaration at Cop26 in Glasgow on Tuesday to protect vast areas, ranging from
the eastern Siberian taiga to the Congo basin, home to the world’s second
largest rainforest.
Land-clearing
by humans accounts for almost a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, largely
deriving from the destruction of the world’s forests for agricultural products
such as palm oil, soy and beef.
By signing
the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forest and Land Use, presidents and prime
ministers from major producers and consumers of deforestation-linked products
will commit to protect forest ecosystems.
Monteverde
Cloud Forest in Costa Rica.
What is
deforestation – and is stopping it really possible?
Read more
Boris
Johnson will unveil the agreement at an event attended by the US president, Joe
Biden, the Prince of Wales and the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo. He is
expected to say: “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.”
The
commitment on nature and forests comes as more than 120 world leaders came
together in Glasgow to thrash out fresh commitments on cutting greenhouse gas
emissions, amid concerns that key countries have failed to step up.
On a day
devoted to speeches by presidents and prime ministers that underlined the scale
of the challenges ahead, Johnson said future generations “will judge us with
bitterness” if the conference fails. Other key moments included:
Under the
2015 Paris climate accord, nations committed to restricting global temperature
rises to ‘well below’ 2C
What is
Cop26 and why does it matter? The complete guide
Read more
India pledged to reach net zero emissions by
2070. Although it is the first time the world’s third biggest polluter has set
this target, and experts said it was a realistic commitment, it is 20 years
behind the 2050 date set agreed by other developed countries.
President Biden warned that greater urgency
was needed at the talks: “Right now, we are falling short. There’s no time to
hang back, sit on the fence or argue amongst ourselves.”
António Guterres, the UN secretary general,
said the world was being driven to the brink by an addiction to fossil fuels.
“We are fast approaching tipping points that will trigger escalating feedback
loops of global heating,” he warned.
In a recorded message, the Queen called on leaders
to “rise above the politics of the moment, and achieve true statesmanship”. She
added: “Of course, the benefits of such actions will not be there to enjoy for
all of us here today: we none of us will live forever. But we are doing this
not for ourselves but for our children and our children’s children, and those
who will follow in their footsteps.”
Following
his own speech, Johnson provoked some ridicule by admitting he would fly home
rather than take the train.
Cop26
leaders
Who’s who
at Cop26: the leaders who hold the world’s future in their hands
Read more
Shortly
before, he had told a roundtable of leaders of developing nations: “When it
comes to tackling climate change, words without action, without deeds are
absolutely pointless.”
The
commitments on deforestation are an early win for the UK, which as host nation
bears responsibility for forging a consensus among the nearly 200 countries
present, amid concerns that an overall commitment on cutting greenhouse gas
emissions by the 45% scientists say is needed this decade will fall short.
The
political declaration, which is voluntary and not part of the Paris process, is
one of a range of side deals that the UK presidency is pushing for at the
climate summit in Glasgow alongside others on methane, cars and coal.
The package
includes £5.3bn of new private finance and £8.75bn of public funding for
restoring degraded land, supporting indigenous communities, protecting forests
and mitigating wildfire damage.
A pledge
from CEOs to eliminate activities linked to deforestation, and £1.5bn funding
from the UK government for forests, are also part of the deal. £350m of that
will go to Indonesia and £200m to the Congo basin, with a new £1.1bn fund for
the west African rainforest.
While the
forestry agreement has been cautiously welcomed by ecologists and forest
governance experts, they point to previous deals to save forests that have so
far failed to stop their destruction, including in 2014. But this time, the EU,
China and the US alongside major forested countries like Brazil, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and Papua New Guinea will all sign the commitment.
Many
details need to be clarified, particularly how the money is spent, according to
Carlos Rittl, who works on Brazil for the Rainforest Foundation Norway. “Big
cheques won’t save the forests if the money doesn’t go into the right hands,”
he said, emphasising that it should go to indigenous groups and other who are
committed to protecting the forest.
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In a
separate announcement, at least £1.25bn of funding will be given directly to
indigenous peoples and local communities by governments and philanthropists for
their role in protecting forests.
But the
promised funds still fall far short of what some believe is needed. “We are
undervalued and our rights are still not respected,” said Mina Setra, an
indigenous rights activist from Borneo. “A statement is not enough. We need
evidence, not only words.”
Zac Goldsmith hails ‘unprecedented’ deal at Cop26
to save world’s forests
More than 100 leaders to commit to halting and
reversing deforestation and land degradation by 2030
The deal to save the world’s forests will backed by
nearly £14bn in public and private funding.
Fiona
Harvey and Patrick Greenfield in Glasgow
Tue 2 Nov
2021 06.00 GMT
Saving the
world’s forests will be one of the cornerstone achievements of the Cop26
climate summit, the UK environment minister Zac Goldsmith has said, with some
of the biggest forested nations and consumers of forestry products signing up
to an “unprecedented” conservation deal.
On Tuesday,
more than 100 world leaders will commit to halting and reversing deforestation
and land degradation by 2030, backed by nearly £14bn in public and private
funding. Major producers and consumers of deforestation-linked commodities
including Indonesia, China, Brazil and the US have put their name to the deal,
which aims to curtail the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Lord
Goldsmith told the Guardian: “This is a genuinely unprecedented package. People
will be able to justify having hope [that the world’s forests can be saved].
This puts us on a road to recovery and renewal.”
He said it
had “not been easy” to persuade many of the countries involved to join, as the
deal requires not just a commitment to halt deforestation – which has never
been achieved before, despite numerous failed attempts – and provide forested
countries with funds to replace the money they would have made from exploiting
forested land, but also to reforming aspects of commodity markets so that
buyers cannot get away with importing commodities produced from deforested
land.
“The
different parts of the package are mutually reinforcing,” said Goldsmith. “We
are sending a very serious signal to the markets, we have a good pledge from
buyers. The market has been blind to the value of the environment … The
[current economic] incentives to deforest are 40 times bigger than the incentives
to keep healthy forests, so changing that is difficult.”
The line-up
of countries includes China and Brazil, as well as smaller developing
countries, and some big buyers of forestry products which will clean up their
supply chains.
“There are
some surprising countries in there, and this is a pretty bullish pledge,” said
the Conservative peer, though he declined to name any countries. “We have
managed to persuade some of the trickier customers to come on board.”
Goldsmith,
son of the late billionaire financier Sir James Goldsmith, has long been a
notable environmentalist, a former owner of the Ecologist magazine and a
campaigner and philanthropist for conservation projects. His political career
as an MP, which included a campaign running against Labour’s Sadiq Khan to be
London mayor that was marred by accusations of Islamophobia, was ended by
defeat in the 2019 election. Soon afterwards he was put in the Lords,
controversially, by Boris Johnson. He was charged by Johnson, an old friend and
fellow old Etonian, with what he said was a personal passion for protecting
nature and combating the loss of species and habitats.
“Putting
nature at the heart [of the Cop] has been my obsession. It’s mad that nature
has always been more or less forgotten [in climate negotiations],” said
Goldsmith.
The
difficulty of achieving the broader deal hoped for at Cop26, of drastic cuts in
greenhouse gas emissions in line with scientific advice, was apparent on the
first day of the summit, when more than 120 world leaders gathered in Glasgow.
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, delivered a gloomy forecast of the
prospects. “Recent climate action announcements might give the impression that
we are on track to turn things around,” he said. “This is an illusion.”
In this
context, having a side deal on forestry in the bag is a major boost for the UK
as hosts. However, some countries and analysts told the Guardian the agreement,
while important, was flawed and lacking in some key respects, with too little
cash being dedicated to helping poor countries preserve their forests, and too
little emphasis on reducing demand for the commodities – such as soy, palm oil
and beef – that drive deforestation in the first place.
John
Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace, said: “Everyone wants to see zero
deforestation, not least the indigenous peoples whose homes and livelihoods are
under threat. But without tackling the drivers of destruction it’s like
whistling in the wind to think cash alone will work. Cattle and soya for animal
feed are wiping out the Amazon and savannahs of Brazil. The industrial meat
industry, like its counterpart in the fossil fuel sector, needs to come to an
end.”
He added:
“Every climate scientist is saying we need to eat less meat. We won’t save the
forests until politicians stop ignoring that message.”
Indigenous
leaders, who have been shown to be the best guardians of the natural world by
several studies, have also said they were not consulted on the declaration,
adding that many leaders making the commitment had a history of breaking
promises on protecting indigenous rights.
Goldsmith
said the deal would benefit forest dwellers. “Indigenous people have always
been seen as second tier [at Cops], they have never been given this support
before,” he said. “I think for them this support will be a turning point at
this Cop.”
He added:
“When you put it all together, it’s a robust package, trying to get as many
major countries together as possible to commit to ending deforestation. But
it’s worth nothing unless they back this up with policies. It will be
our job to make this real.”
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