Selasa, 02 November 2021

COP26: World leaders promise to end deforestation by 2030 - BBC News

Companies cut down trees to create grazing land to feed the world's hunger for meat
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More than 100 world leaders will promise to end and reverse deforestation by 2030, in the COP26 climate summit's first major deal.

Brazil - where stretches of the Amazon rainforest have been cut down - will be among the signatories on Tuesday.

The pledge includes almost £14bn ($19.2bn) of public and private funds.

Experts welcomed the move, but warned a previous deal in 2014 had "failed to slow deforestation at all" and commitments needed to be delivered on.

Felling trees contributes to climate change because it depletes forests that absorb vast amounts of the warming gas CO2.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is hosting the global meeting in Glasgow, will call Tuesday's deal a "landmark agreement to protect and restore the Earth's forests".

"These great teeming ecosystems - these cathedrals of nature - are the lungs of our planet," he will say.

The two-week summit in Glasgow is seen as crucial if climate change is to be brought under control.

The countries who say they will sign the pledge - including Canada, Brazil, Russia, China, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the US and the UK (the full list is here) - cover around 85% of the world's forests.

Some of the funding will go to developing countries to restore damaged land, tackle wildfires and support indigenous communities.

Governments of 28 countries will also commit to remove deforestation from the global trade of food and other agricultural products such as palm oil, soya and cocoa.

These industries drive forest loss by cutting down trees to make space for animals to graze or crops to grow.

More than 30 of the world's biggest companies will commit to end investment in activities linked to deforestation.

And a £1.1bn fund will be established to protect the world's second largest tropical rainforest - in the Congo Basin.

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Prof Simon Lewis, an expert on climate and forests at University College London, said: "It is good news to have a political commitment to end deforestation from so many countries, and significant funding to move forward on that journey."

But he told the BBC the world "has been here before" with a declaration in 2014 in New York "which failed to slow deforestation at all".

He added that this new deal did not tackle growing demand for products such as meat grown on rainforest land - which would require high levels of meat consumption in countries like the US and UK to be addressed.

Ana Yang, executive director at Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator, who co-wrote the report Rethinking the Brazilian Amazon, said: "This deal involves more countries, more players and more money. But the devil is in the detail which we still need to see.

"This is a really important step at COP26. This meeting is around increasing the level of ambition and keeping global temperature rises below 1.5C - this is a big building block," she added.

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COP26 climate summit - The basics

  • Climate change is one of the world's most pressing problems. Governments must promise more ambitious cuts in warming gases if we are to prevent greater global temperature rises.
  • The summit in Glasgow is where change could happen. You need to watch for the promises made by the world's biggest polluters, like the US and China, and whether poorer countries are getting the support they need.
  • All our lives will change. Decisions made here could impact our jobs, how we heat our homes, what we eat and how we travel.
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Tuntiak Katan, from the Coordination of Indigenous Communities of the Amazon Basin, welcomed the deal, telling the BBC that indigenous communities were on the frontline of stopping deforestation.

Mr Katan, an indigenous Shuar from Ecuador, said indigenous communities globally protected 80% of the world's biodiversity but faced threats and violence.

"For years we have protected our way of life and that has protected ecosystems and forests. Without us, no money or policy can stop climate change," he said.

Aerial view of deforestation in the Menkragnoti Indigenous Territory in Altamira, Para state, Brazil
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The deal's signatories will include a number of key countries.

Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of palm oil, a product found in everything from shampoo to biscuits. Production is driving tree destruction and territory loss for indigenous people.

Meanwhile, Russia's huge natural forests, with more than one fifth of the planet's trees, capture more than 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon annually.

In the planet's biggest rainforest, the Amazon, deforestation accelerated to a 12-year high in 2020 under Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

"Having Brazil signing the deal is really important because it holds a large chunk of tropical forests. But the money must be channelled to people who can make this work on the ground," Ms Yang said.

Many people living in the Amazon, including in its urban areas, depend on the forest for their livelihoods and they need support in finding new incomes, she added.

Trees are one of our major defences in a warming world. They suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, acting as so-called carbon sinks. They absorb around one third of global CO2 emitted each year.

Currently an area of forest the size of 27 football pitches is lost every minute.

Depleted forests can also start to release CO2. If too many trees are cut down, scientists are worried that the planet will reach a tipping point that will set off abrupt and unpredictable climatic change.

On the second day of the two-week climate summit, the US and EU are also launching an initiative that aims to drive global efforts to cut emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas which comes from sources including fossil fuel extraction and livestock farming.

Dozens of heads of state will join the pledge, which commits countries to cut their emissions of the gas by 30% by 2030.

The opening day of the conference in Glasgow saw India pledge to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2070 - missing a key goal of the COP26 summit for countries to commit to reach that target by 2050.

Among those to address the summit was the Queen, who urged world leaders in a video message to act "for our children and our children's children" and to "rise above the politics of the moment".

Outside of the conference, climate activist Greta Thunberg told young protesters that politicians attending COP26 were "pretending to take our future seriously", calling for an end to "blah, blah, blah".

Under present targets, the world is on track for warming of 2.7C by 2100 - which the UN says would result in "climate catastrophe".

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The COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow in November is seen as crucial if climate change is to be brought under control. Almost 200 countries are being asked for their plans to cut emissions, and it could lead to major changes to our everyday lives.

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Senin, 01 November 2021

COP26: Act now for our children, Queen urges climate summit - BBC News

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The Queen has urged world leaders at the COP26 climate summit to "achieve true statesmanship" and create a "safer, stabler future" for the planet.

In a video message, she said many people hoped the "time for words has now moved to the time for action".

She urged them to act "for our children and our children's children" and "rise above the politics of the moment".

The Queen added she took "great pride" in how her "dear late husband" Prince Philip promoted environmental issues.

The 95-year-old monarch had been scheduled to attend the United Nations conference in Glasgow. But she pre-recorded her address last week at Windsor Castle after being advised to rest following medical checks.

The Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge are both attending the COP26 conference, which is seen as a crucial gathering if temperature increases and climate changes are to be limited.

In her address, the Queen recalled how the "impact of the environment on human progress was a subject close to the heart" of the Duke of Edinburgh. She referred to his warning at a 1969 academic gathering of the dangers of failing to address pollution.

The Queen said: "It is a source of great pride to me that the leading role my husband played in encouraging people to protect our fragile planet, lives on through the work of our eldest son Charles and his eldest son William.

"I could not be more proud of them."

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Analysis box by Sean Coughlan, royal correspondent

Even though not there in person, this was a surprisingly personal message from the Queen.

She mentions how the environment was a subject close to the heart of "my dear late husband" Prince Philip and says she "could not be more proud" that it was an interest sustained by her son Charles and grandson William.

She also seems to make reference to her own mortality: "None of us will live forever."

But there is also the authoritative voice of someone looking back after almost 70 years as head of state, telling world leaders to take the long view and "rise above the politics of the moment".

The Queen says "statesmanship" means serving the future rather than short-term political rewards.

She might be on the video screen but she was telling world leaders to focus on the big picture.

The Queen making her speech as seen on a screen at a reception at the COP26 summit on 1 November 2021
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The Queen said she also drew "great comfort and inspiration from the relentless enthusiasm of people of all ages - especially the young - in calling for everyone to play their part".

She said: "In the coming days, the world has the chance to join in the shared objective of creating a safer, stabler future for our people and for the planet on which we depend.

"None of us underestimates the challenges ahead: but history has shown that when nations come together in common cause, there is always room for hope."

In other developments at COP26:

The Queen said she hoped the leaders at COP26 would "rise above the politics of the moment, and achieve true statesmanship".

She added: "It is the hope of many that the legacy of this summit - written in history books yet to be printed - will describe you as the leaders who did not pass up the opportunity; and that you answered the call of those future generations.

"That you left this conference as a community of nations with a determination, a desire, and a plan, to address the impact of climate change; and to recognise that the time for words has now moved to the time for action.

"Of course, the benefits of such actions will not be there to enjoy for all of us here today: we none of us will live forever.

"But we are doing this not for ourselves but for our children and our children's children, and those who will follow in their footsteps."

Ahead of COP26, the Queen was overheard appearing to suggest she was irritated by people who "talk" but "don't do", when it comes to climate issues.

Prince of Wales addressing COP26 on 1 November 2021
EPA

Addressing the opening of the conference earlier in the day, the Prince of Wales urged world leaders into action, saying he understood that many countries could not afford to "go green".

Instead, he said, there needs to be a "vast military-style campaign to marshal the strength of the global private sector", which had trillions of dollars at its disposal.

"The scale and scope of the threat we face call for a global, systems-level solution, based on radically transforming our current fossil fuel-based economy to one that is genuinely renewable and sustainable," he said.

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The COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow in November is seen as crucial if climate change is to be brought under control. Almost 200 countries are being asked for their plans to cut emissions, and it could lead to major changes to our everyday lives.

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