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world news Diaranson 3 november 2021

Leaders vow to protect forests, plug methane leaks at COP26

(AP) — World leaders prom- Forests are important ecosystems and heard here,” said Mitzi Jonelle Tan, a
ised to protect Earth’s forests, provide a critical way of absorbing Helen Mountford, a climate expert climate activist from the Philippines.
cut methane emissions and help carbon dioxide — the main green- at the World Resources Institute, said
South Africa wean itself off coal house gas — from the atmosphere. the agreement “sets a strong floor in “We have to make sure that we re-
at the U.N. climate summit Tues- But the value of wood as a commod- terms of the ambition we need glob- ally rally together and make sure that
day — part of a flurry of deals ity and the growing demand for agri- ally.” we’re so loud that the world leaders
intended to avert catastrophic cultural and pastoral land are leading can’t keep ignoring us,” she said. “Be-
global warming. to widespread and often illegal felling Separately, the U.S., Britain, France cause every fraction of a degree, ev-
of forests, particularly in developing and Germany announced a plan to ery step towards the right direction is
Britain hailed the commitment by countries. Indigenous peoples are of- provide $8.5 billion in loans and what matters here.”
more than 100 countries to end de- ten among the hardest hit. grants over five years to help South
forestation in the coming decade Africa phase out coal. Some 25,000 people are expected to
as the first big achievement of the “We are delighted to see Indigenous attend the vast COP26 gathering,
conference in the Scottish city of peoples mentioned in the forest deal South Africa gets about 90% of its from heads of state to activists and
Glasgow, known as COP26 — but announced today,” said Joseph Itong- electricity from coal-fired plants, a charity workers. Attendees on Tues-
experts noted such promises have wa Mukumo, an Indigenous Walikale major source of greenhouse gas emis- day included Leonardo DiCaprio,
been made and broken before. and activist from Congo. sions. who drew a crowd of journalists and
fans. The Hollywood star, who is a
More than 120 world leaders were He called for governments and busi- But campaigners say the world’s big- U.N. climate change representative,
heading home after two days in nesses to recognize the effective role gest carbon emitters need to do much visited an exhibition highlighting the
which they received stark warnings Indigenous communities play in pre- more. Earth has already warmed 1.1 role plants can play in providing solu-
about the state of the Earth from venting deforestation. degrees Celsius (2F). Current pro- tions to climate change.
Johnson, naturalist David Atten- jections based on planned emissions
borough, Queen Elizabeth II and “These are billions in investment to- cuts over the next decade are for it to As countries announced major initia-
— most powerfully — the people of wards environmental preservation, hit 2.7C (4.9F) by the year 2100. tives, those attendees appeared ready
countries and regions already facing but it’s very difficult for this money to do their small part: For a few min-
climate upheaval. to reach Indigenous communities, Increased warming over coming de- utes Tuesday, the vegetarian version
reach traditional communities,” said cades would melt much of the plan- of haggis — a Scottish delicacy typi-
Johnson said at a news confer- Chief Ninawa, a leader of the Huni et’s ice, raise global sea levels and cally made with sheep’s lungs — was
ence that it was important to “guard Kui people from the Amazon attend- greatly increase the likelihood and in- sold out. It was outselling the tradi-
against false hope,” but added that he ing the summit. tensity of extreme weather, scientists tional version, servers said — perhaps
was “cautiously optimistic” about the say. unsurprising in a crowd well aware
outcome of the talks. The conference Some campaigners said the forests of the impact of meat-eating on the
aims to keep the world on track to pledge was a step forward. Luciana “I don’t think that activists are being climate.
limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Tellez Chavez, an environmental re-
Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre- searcher at Human Right Watch, said
industrial levels — the goal set at the there were “quite a lot of really posi-
Paris climate conference six years ago. tive elements.”

Johnson had a message for negotia- She said it was positive to see China
tors from around the globe who will and Brazil pledging to protect forests,
strain over the next 10 days to turn but noted that Brazil’s public state-
politicians’ climate promises into re- ments don’t yet line up with its do-
ality: “The eyes of the populations of mestic policies and warned that the
the world are on you.” deal could be used by some countries
to “greenwash” their image.
The U.K. said it has received pledges
from leaders representing more than Brazil’s government has been eager to
85% of the world’s forests to halt and project itself as a responsible environ-
reverse deforestation by 2030. Among mental steward in the wake of surg-
them are several countries with mas- ing deforestation and fires in the Am-
sive forests, including Brazil, China, azon rainforest and Pantanal wetlands
Colombia, Congo, Indonesia, Russia that sparked global outrage in recent
and the United States. years. Critics caution that its promis-
es should be viewed with skepticism,
More than $19 billion in public and and the country’s president, Jair Bol-
private funds have been pledged to- sonaro, is an outspoken proponent of
ward the plan. developing the Amazon.

Experts and observers said fulfilling On Tuesday, the administration of
the pledge will be critical to limiting U.S. President Joe Biden launched a
climate change, but many noted that plan to reduce methane emissions, a
such grand promises have been made potent greenhouse gas that contrib-
before — to little effect. utes significantly to global warm-
ing. The announcement was part of
“Signing the declaration is the easy a broader effort with the European
part,” U.N. Secretary-General An- Union and other nations to reduce
tónio Guterres said on Twitter. “It is overall methane emissions world-
essential that it is implemented now wide by 30% by 2030.
for people and planet.”
Clamping down on methane flar-
Alison Hoare, a senior research fel- ing and leaks from oil wells and gas
low at political think tank Chatham pipelines — the focus of the Biden
House, said world leaders promised plan — is considered one of the easi-
in 2014 to end deforestation by 2030, est ways to cut emissions. Reducing
“but since then deforestation has ac- methane from agriculture, in particu-
celerated across many countries.” lar by belching cows, is a trickier mat-
ter.