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Leaders of more than 100 nations signed a declaration pledging to end deforestation. and forest restoration by 2030 is the first major agreement to be reached at the 26th session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) meeting.
Brazil, which owns a vast area of the deforested Amazon, also signed the agreement on Nov. 1, with data as of Nov. 1 saying there would be A total of 105 countries have signed on, including Canada, China, Indonesia, Russia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam, among others, but Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos are not included in this list.
The signing came on the second day of the COP26 meeting held in Glasgow. Scotland, where Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Thailand traveled to attend the meeting with a speech confirming that Thailand attaches great importance to solving climate change problems with the text at the end saying
“Let me reiterate that we all don’t have a ‘Plan Two’ on climate cures. Because we will no longer have a ‘second world’ which is our home like this world.”
What content does this agreement contain?
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Many forest areas have been cleared. To use the area for raising livestock to support the demand for meat consumption of the people of the world.
The declaration is part of a major economic and political pledge to end global deforestation by all 105 countries that have signed. Owns a forest that covers approximately 85% of the world’s forests.
The signatory countries have pledged to contribute nearly 14 billion pounds (about 644,000 million baht) of both public and private funds to tackle deforestation.
Part of the money will be given to developing countries. to be used to restore the destroyed forest Solving the problem of forest fires and supporting indigenous communities that depend on the rainforest for their livelihood. Around £1.1 billion will be spent protecting the world’s second-largest rainforest in the Congo Basin. in Central Africa
In addition, 28 governments have pledged to eliminate deforestation from the global food trade. and other agricultural products such as palm oil, soy products and cocoa. is a major cause of forest destruction. to use the area for raising livestock and growing economic crops
Meanwhile, major global financial firms such as Aviva, Schroders and Axa have pledged to stop investing in deforestation-related activities.
Asia’s largest rainforest burned to oil palm plantations
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, host of COP26, said: “We must halt the massive loss of our forests…and end the role of man as conquerors of nature. and become a protector of nature instead.”
Professor Simon Lewis, climate and forestry expert. From University College London, this is good news with political commitments from many countries. to stop deforestation and pledges to fund this plan
However, he told the BBC that The world had seen such a declaration in 2014 at a conference in New York City. But it can’t slow down the problem of deforestation at all.
While Dr. Nigel Ziser, an ecologist indicate that this is But he pointed out that some may feel that the 2030 target is disappointing.
“We are facing a climate emergency. So give yourself another 10 years to solve this problem. So it doesn’t seem very consistent.”
“But this may be consistent with reality. and what we can achieve the most,” said Dr. Zeiser.
How is this deal different from the past?
image source, Reuters
An aerial view shows forest burning in South Kalimantan province. of indonesia to take the area to make an oil palm plantation
The signing of the declaration included several countries that were key variables in the solution, such as Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil exporter. But this industry is a major cause of forest destruction. and the habitat of indigenous peoples
As for Russia, there is a large natural forest. Which has more than 1 in 5 of all trees on the planet. and help trap more than 1,500 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.
while Brazil has the Amazon forest. which is the largest rainforest in the world And face the worst logging problem in 12 years in 2020 under President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration.
Britain’s Environment Minister George Eustis said the announcement to halt deforestation was a good sign for key countries to join.
“In the past (2014) there was an attempt to get a forest pledge. But Brazil did not participate. as well as Russia and China.”
“Brazil has been very involved with us in this regard. This is a big step for them,” Eustis said. and accepting that this agreement is a voluntary cooperation of each country And there is no enforcement mechanism in any way.
image source, Getty Images
The Amazon has been facing a sharp increase in logging issues in recent years.
Dr. Seiser, an ecologist, said that one of the major causes of deforestation in Brazil is Bringing the land to planting soybeans Most of the produce is exported to China and Europe for animal feed such as pigs and chickens.
“We all consume these foods. Unless we are strictly vegetarians. or not eating soy at all So this is a very big problem that concerns us all,” said Dr. Seiser.
Trees are one of the key things that will help fight global warming. Because they act as carbon sinks, helping to absorb carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere. It absorbs about one-third of the amount of gas that countries in the world emit each year.
But now the world is rapidly losing forests. That is, about 27 football fields are destroyed every minute.
Degraded forests are also starting to emit carbon dioxide. Scientists are worried that the world will enter a turning point for a sudden and unpredictable climate crisis.
