Glasgow – At the “COP26” climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the heads of state and government decided to commit themselves to an intensified fight against deforestation!
This is intended to further combat global warming. According to a joint declaration planned for Tuesday, deforestation is to be stopped by 2030, as the British summit organizers announced on Tuesday night. Climate activists criticized the target date as too late.
Boris Johnson wants to slow global warming by stopping deforestationPhoto: Steve Reigate / AP
Deforestation is the conversion of forest areas to other forms of land use – for example for the cultivation or production of food. As a result, most of the habitats of the species originally living there are lost.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stressed the importance of forests in achieving the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era, according to a speech distributed in advance. “These great teeming ecosystems, these cathedrals of nature, are the lungs of our planet,” it said in the text. With the adoption of the voluntary commitment to forest protection planned for Tuesday, mankind has the chance to go from being a “conqueror” to being the guardian of nature.
According to the UK government, the declaration is backed by more than a hundred heads of state and government, whose countries together are home to more than 85 percent of the world’s forests. The project is supported with almost 20 billion dollars (17 billion euros) in financial commitments from public and private funds.
The British government described the project as “unprecedented”. However, the participants at a UN climate change meeting in New York announced in 2014 that they would halve the deforestation rate by 2020 and stop deforestation by 2030. Nevertheless, the deforestation continues unchecked on an industrial scale, not least in the Amazon rainforest under the government of the right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
The nature conservation organization Greenpeace criticized the Glasgow initiative. This practically gives the green light “for another decade of deforestation”.