COP26: Leaders commend deforestation announcement

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

GLASGOW, Scotland (AA) – The second day of the UN Climate Change Summit held in the Scottish city of Glasgow started with a breakfast with 40 leaders on Tuesday.

The breakfast was attended by the leaders of the UK’s devolved nations as well as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Back in the conference hall later, Johnson told the delegates that “climate change and biodiversity are two sides of the same coin.”

“We can’t tackle climate change without tackling biodiversity loss,” he said.

“We have to stop the devastating loss of our forests.”

Johnson said the world’s forests must be protected if the target of Paris Agreement, to keep the global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius, is to be reached.

Pointing out that 110 leaders have signed the declaration on halting and reversing forest loss and land degradation by the end of this decade, he said China, Russia, and Brazil were among the signatories.

“Let’s work together to protect the forests but ensure the forests return,” he added.

Also speaking to delegates, US President Joe Biden underlined the potential of forests to reduce carbon emissions across the planet.

"Conserving our forest and other critical ecosystems is an indispensable piece of keeping our climate goals in reach as well as many other key priorities we have together,” Biden said.

He said: "Forests have the potential to reduce carbon globally by more than one-third."

Also referring to the deforestation announcement made on Monday, the US president said the plan was "the first of its kind," and it will help stopping forest loss, restoring critical carbon sinks, reducing the drivers of deforestation, and creating sustainable supply chains.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also addressed the delegates on Tuesday and said that in "too many places in the world" nature is already changing, adding that this is a "profound and urgent danger to us all, that's why last month in New York, nine philanthropic organizations announced an additional $5 billion to support the goal of 30 by 30 -- to protect 30% of all land and sea by 2030."

Bezos said he made a $1-billion pledge from his Bezos Earth Fund, before announcing a $2 billion-pledge allocated directly to restoring nature and land in the African continent.

"We must conserve what we still have, we must restore what we've lost and we must grow what we need to live without degrading the planet for future generations to come," he said.

More than 100 world leaders signed a declaration Monday committing to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.

Under the agreement, 12 countries also pledged to spend $12 billion in public funds between 2021 and 2025 to protect and restore forests and an additional $7.2 billion will be provided by private investors.

The announcement of the Leader's Declaration on Forests and Land Use came on the first day of the official opening of the leaders' summit of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The COP26 will continue until Nov. 12 with numerous panels, meetings, and side events, all looking for remedies to reduce the levels of global warming by keeping it at 1.5 C.

Many heads of state and government, as well as more 25,000 delegates from 200 countries are in the Glasgow conference.