Among the signatory countries of the agreement are the territories that are home to 85% of the planet’s forests. In addition, they will spend around € 10 billion between 2021 and 2025 to protect and restore forests.
Within the framework of the UN climate summit (COP26) held these days in Glasgow, more than 100 countries have pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. In addition, twelve countries will disburse some € 10.3 billion between 2021 and 2025 to protect and restore forests. To that amount you have to add some 6.2 billion euros of private investment.
Among the signatory countries are, among others, Australia, Brazil, China, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Norway, Peru, United Kingdom, Russia, Turkey, the European Union or Uruguay. Among all they add an area of 33.6 million square kilometers of forests (85% of the forests of the planet).
Pending the details of the agreement, the British government As host of the Glasgow Summit, it has issued a statement in which it recognizes that this represents “the greatest step forward in a generation for the protection of the world’s forests”.
At the opening of an event dedicated to “Forests and Land”, the conservative leader stressed that “climate change and biodiversity are two sides of the same coin”, so that while fighting one, the other must be protected.
Thus, this agreement includes the “commitment to protect indigenous communities” and their custody of nature, so it is expected that the destination of new economic funds to preserve them will be approved, including an announcement to preserve the Congo River basin that it is home to the second largest rainforest on the planet.
Some catastrophic figures
The forests are home to 60,000 different species of trees, the 80% of amphibian species, the 75% of bird species and the 68% of mammalian species on Earth, according to data from United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
But the numbers reveal the size of this catastrophe: over the past 13 years more than 43 million hectares of forest have been devastated in those ecosystems.
A recent report from the world environmental organization WWF has warned that deforestation has been taking place for many decades in the Amazon, in Central Africa, Mekong and Indonesia, but also points out new fronts in West Africa (Liberia, Ivory Coast or Ghana), in East Africa (Madagascar) and in Latin America, in places like the Mayan Jungle of Mexico and Guatemala.
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
