The participating countries comprise 85 percent of the world’s forests, including the boreal forests of Canada, the Amazon rainforests of Brazil, and the rainforests of the Congo Basin. It covers an area of about 34 million square kilometres. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will host the COP26 climate conference, described the agreement as a “milestone for protecting and restoring Earth’s forests”. Every minute, about 27 football fields are now lost due to deforestation.
The initiative will receive a total of $19.2 billion (16.5 billion euros) in public and private funding. And 30 financial institutions, such as Aviva and Axa, will also commit to stop investing in activities related to deforestation.
This new commitment reflects the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests, when 40 countries committed to halving deforestation by 2020 and ending the practice by 2030. However, the agreement reached is now more comprehensive than that previous deal.
It is also said that forests are the lungs of the earth, they absorb a large part of the carbon dioxide. According to British Prime Minister Johnson, host of COP26, it is therefore necessary to prevent a global temperature rise of more than 1.5 degrees.
More Stories
Revealing the ten countries that support Ukraine the most
Funny protest against mass tourism in Galician village
Kamala Harris has wind in her sails, but Trump can still win