Earth Today | Deforestation a threat to climate stability, economies
Report urges countries to ramp up efforts to save forests
Published:Thursday | June 13, 2024 | 12:08 AM
WITH FORESTS and their wide-ranging offerings to humanity, including as an enabler for climate security, in jeopardy, a new report has called for scaled-up actions to halt deforestation.
Failure to do so, the report predicted, will lead not only to an unstable climate, but also livelihoods loss and impaired economies.
“Intact forests are extraordinary resources whose role in supporting flourishing economies and societies is often overlooked. They regulate water supply. They provide essential resources for people. They are home to pollinators that food systems depend upon,” reads a section of the new Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) report titled Raising ambition, accelerating action: Towards enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions for forests.
“They are also vital for storing carbon, which contributes to mitigating climate change. Yet deforestation threatens the provision of these benefits, endangering the economies and societies that need them,” it added.
As things stand, the report revealed, country pledges to reduce deforestation in REDD+ countries, as well as to financially support this transition from developed countries, are “insufficient to halt deforestation by 2030”.
REDD+ addressed the role of conservation and sustainable forest management, together with attention to enhancing forest carbon stocks for a comprehensive response to the peril faced by forests and the likely loss of their range of ecosystem benefits under a business-as-usual scenario.
“This report finds that commitments within the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) from the 20 countries with the highest emissions from tree cover loss are not enough to meet the goal. Only eight countries include explicit quantified targets to reduce deforestation. All fall short of global ambition to halt deforestation by 2030,” the report said.
Given what is at stake, it has called for, among other things, significantly improved efforts that enforce existing national policies and adherence to social and environmental safeguards.
“Continued positive action to end deforestation is needed to create sustainable and flourishing economies. Action from REDD+ countries, developed countries and the private sector is essential, as the drivers of deforestation are global,” it said.
According to the report, REDD+ countries – which include Jamaica and others from Latin America and the Caribbean, such as the Dominican Republic and Guyana – should not bear the weight of this alone.
“The provision of immediate substantial financial and technical support for forest protection is key. This is crucial for levelling the playing field and supporting forest-based economies,” it said.
And the time to act is now.
“Halting deforestation is essential for the world to meet its socio-economic development, biodiversity and climate change mitigation goals. It is a cost-effective climate change mitigation action. However, the world’s progress towards halting deforestation by 2030 is not on track,” it said, citing sources including the Forest Declaration Assessment Partners, 2023.
“Countries have an opportunity to include their targets to reduce deforestation in Nationally Determined Contributions, which outline the actions countries will take to adapt to and mitigate climate change. They are updated every five years, starting from 2020,” the report added.
“To date,” it said further, “the commitments articulated in NDCs are insufficient to curb global emissions in line with the Paris Agreement.”
“This insufficient ambition is also true for actions related to nature and forests. For example, only 38 per cent of parties to the UNFCCC include measures to reduce conversion of forests and other ecosystems. All countries, including developed countries, will need to raise their ambition to reduce their emissions in their next NDC updates in 2025. For countries with high emissions from tropical deforestation, this will include targets related to activities within the reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) framework,” the report explained.