COP26 leaders vow new drive to save forests

Almost a quarter of all man-made emissions of carbon dioxide can be attributed to land use activity such as logging, deforestation and farming

Almost a quarter of all man-made emissions of carbon dioxide can be attributed to land use activity such as logging, deforestation and farming

World leaders will conclude a two-day climate summit on Tuesday with a multibillion-dollar pledge to end deforestation by 2030 -- a date too far away for campaigners who want action sooner to save the planet's lungs.

The pledge was to be issued at the UN's COP26 conference, which will continue for another fortnight to try to craft national plans to forestall the most devastating impacts of global warming.

"These great teeming ecosystems –- these cathedrals of nature -- are the lungs of our planet," he was expected to say in Glasgow, according to Downing Street.

"With today's (Tuesday's) unprecedented pledges, we will have a chance to end humanity's long history as nature's conqueror, and instead become its custodian." 

The leaders include those of forest-rich Brazil and Russia, both condemned by activists for accelerating their own rates of deforestation, along with US President Joe Biden and others.

"We are committed to protecting these critical carbon sinks and our natural capital for future generations," he said in a UK government statement.

- 10 more years -

But while Johnson said it was "unprecedented", a UN climate gathering in New York in 2014 issued a similar declaration to halve the rate of deforestation by 2020, and end it by 2030.

Almost a quarter of all man-made emissions of carbon dioxide can be attributed to land use activity such as logging, deforestation and farming.

Greenpeace criticised the Glasgow initiative for effectively giving the green light to "another decade of deforestation".

"The climate and the natural world can't afford this deal," she said.

"We will be looking for concrete evidence of a transformation in the way funds are invested," said Tuntiak Katan Jua from the COICA indigenous organisation.

jit-pg/jj

...