As of late Monday, more than 100 countries representing 85% of the world’s forests promised to reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030, with a dozen countries putting billions of dollars on the table to support the effort.
The dozen countries agreed to commit $ 12 billion to protect and restore forests, and the private sector has committed $ 7.2 billion to the initiative. Canada signed the pledge and it is one of twelve to pledge to fund, although a specific amount was not immediately disclosed.
“Canada is home to one of the largest continuous forests in the world and we have a responsibility to protect it,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a press conference Tuesday night at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Specifically, the commitment calls on countries to conserve forests, promote sustainable production, encourage sustainable agriculture, “significantly increase finances” for forest management, reduce “vulnerability” and recognize the rights of indigenous peoples.
At a press conference Tuesday night, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke proudly of the deal to end “the chainsaw massacre.” But he was immediately faced with questions about how realistic the deal is given the past deforestation record of Brazil, a key signatory country.
A report published by climate change experts last month said that Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions increased by 9.5 percent last year, mainly due to the deforestation of the Amazon.
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Johnson said that regardless of what world leaders say and do, pressure is mounting on all sides, particularly from corporations and financial institutions, to advance climate change. For the first time, corporate CEOs agreed to eliminate activities that contribute to deforestation. Companies that do not do so will not attract investment, Johnson said.
“That’s a big step forward,” Johnson said, adding that if they don’t meet that commitment, there will be “a price to pay.”
He also noted that many financial institutions now say they will refuse to finance deforestation.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault said the way forests are managed is changing, with greater attention to protecting biodiversity.
This is the new approach that we are seeing on a global scale, and certainly an approach in Canada that we are moving towards in partnership with indigenous peoples, ”he said.
As of late Monday, more than 100 countries representing 85 percent of the world’s forests pledged to reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030, and a dozen countries put billions of dollars on the table. to support the effort. # COP26
In an interview, Anishinaabe youngster Jayce Chiblow of Garden River First Nation, who is a member of Indigenous Climate Action, said she wants Canada to be more committed to reversing land degradation because it is not just logging that is transforming the forests that were once carbon sinks in the major carbon emitters.
“In Canada, where they are still cutting down trees, they are also using things like glyphosate,” he said.
Glyphosate is a controversial product commonly known by its brand name, Roundup, which was produced by Monsanto until the company was acquired by the German pharmaceutical giant Bayer. Glyphosate has been labeled “probably carcinogenic to humans“Per the World Health Organization, but it is still commonly used in Canada because it kills unprofitable vegetation in areas where logging companies want to grow softwood.
Earlier this year, former Green MP Jencia Atwin introduced a bill to ban glyphosate before crossing the room to join the Liberal Party. In August, the government paused on whether to allow an increase in acceptable levels of glyphosate in food crops to allow more time for study, offering some hope to environmentalists seeking to have the product withdrawn.
Chiblow said aerial spraying of glyphosate affects people on its territory in a number of ways, from an elderly man whose berry patch was destroyed to the slaughter of birch trees, which are culturally important to the nation for making medicine and canoes.
The twin problems of glyphosate spraying and monoculture, where logging companies plant only one type of tree to be felled decades later, create an unnatural forest devoid of the biodiversity that supports a rich ecosystem. Chiblow compared a monoculture forest to a “tree plantation,” which makes forest fires worse because the forest lacks the types of natural vegetation that stop fires.
“So when the government says that Canada signed this (aiming for) 2030, it sounds great, but this will continue to happen in our communities,” he said.
Stand.earth co-founder and director of international programs, Tzeporah Berman, said the 2030 target is too far away given the urgency of the climate crisis.
“While we are here at COP26, ancient trees are being cut down in British Columbia,” he said.
“These big commitments are meaningless if we are not protecting the most important forests we have in the country for biodiversity and carbon storage,” he said.
Berman said Canada is not a climate leader until its emissions begin to decline, and the country is committed to following a path to reduce fossil fuel production in line with what climate science says is required to maintain global warming. at 1.5 C, the target of the Paris Agreement. .
“That’s the bottom line, so no amount of tree washing will make Canada a climate leader.”
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com