In the name of climate #14: the agreement against deforestation at COP26

Deforestation contributes considerably to climate change, depriving the planet of ecosystems that are very important for biodiversity. Trees, also, until they die or are burned absorb more carbon dioxide than they emit: for this reason maintaining them on a global scale is significant in combating the climate crisis. An important agreement signed during the COP26 conference on climate in Glasgow goes exactly in this direction: more than 100 world leaders committed to stopping deforestation in their countries by 2030.

Specifically, the commitment assumed provides for a series of projects to stop deforestation and incentivise more sustainable practices for agriculture, as also for the living conditions of the populations that depend on forests. The signatory countries are home to more than 80 per cent of the forests in the world, and among them – besides the two largest economies (United States and China) – are Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which have some of the largest forests. Italy also signed the agreement.

The participants decided to allocate more than € 10 billion to promote policies that stop deforestation, to which are added more than € 6 billion coming from private companies, while a subgroup of 28 countries declared that they will eliminate the use of deforestation from agricultural and commercial practices: most forests are in fact felled or burned to make room for crops or areas of intensive breeding.

Matt Williams of the non-profit organisation Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit told the Financial Times that the agreement could be «one of the greatest results of the conference», while the agreement was greeted with scepticism by some activists owing to the fact that it is not binding and does not provide for sanctions for those that do not observe it. Other observers have pointed out that the agreement makes no mention of what is principally responsible for deforestation, that is the meat industry.

Similar agreements were signed in 2014 and 2017: the times and objectives were the same, but in the absence of coercive instruments they were not really able to stop the phenomenon. On the contrary: in countries such as Brazil deforestation reached record levels.