{"id":8788,"date":"2024-01-03T17:43:23","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T14:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/?p=8788"},"modified":"2024-01-03T17:43:25","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T14:43:25","slug":"cop28-forest-outcomes-below-ideal-surpassing-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/news\/cop28-forest-outcomes-below-ideal-surpassing-expectations","title":{"rendered":"COP28: Forest outcomes below ideal, surpassing expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A special announcement interrupted the \u201cHalting and Reversing Forest Loss by 2030\u201d event during Nature, Land Use and Oceans Day at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai: COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber would make a surprise appearance, the moderator said. But Al Jaber didn\u2019t show up and he didn\u2019t make any major statements that day. Instead, U.S. climate<\/a> envoy John Kerry gave the closing speech to those at the event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Al Jaber\u2019s absence seemed to reflect the priorities of the recently concluded COP28, where debate was focused mainly on the elephant in the room: fossil fuels<\/a>. COP30 in 2025 in Bel\u00e9m, Brazil, the gateway to the Amazon Rainforest, is expected to see far more substantive discussion on the part played by nature, which absorbs about\u00a0half<\/a>\u00a0of humanity\u2019s carbon emissions. Overall, the outcomes for nature and forests<\/a> were a \u201cmixed bag\u201d at Dubai, observers said.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, the summit\u2019s final \u201cglobal stocktake\u201d text mentioned for the first time the goal from the declaration of COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 of \u201chalting and reversing deforestation and forest<\/a> degradation by 2030,\u201d which was an unexpected win for forest advocates. Countries also made several major pledges to combat forest loss<\/a>. There was also progress toward establishing a United Nations mechanism to facilitate nonmarket investment in keeping trees<\/a> standing. But the world still isn\u2019t on track to meet any of these goals, and the COP28 text didn\u2019t mention most of the targets set at the biodiversity summit<\/a> in Montreal last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cDifferent COP presidents want to be known for action on different topics. And so I\u2019m glad that we got [the halting deforestation goal] into the global stocktake text and it wasn\u2019t just kicked down the road to COP30,\u201d said Alexandria Reid of the NGO Global Witness. \u201cBut when you consider the global biodiversity framework<\/a> that was signed last year has a target to halt and reverse all biodiversity loss by 2030, you would have expected, I think, in a way, to see more on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beside the Glasgow goal, nature also made a prominent appearance in the other major text to come out of COP28: the work program on the global goal of climate change adaptation<\/a>. It noted that a future adaptation<\/a> framework should strengthen efforts toward the preservation and regeneration of nature, and that reducing climate impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity should be one of the targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough securing space for a specific target on nature is a definite win, we were sorry to see a lack of measurable aims to strive for that,\u201d the Zoological Society of London\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.climate envoy John Kerry gave the closing speech at COP28.” width=”1536″ height=”1024″ \/>
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry gave the closing speech at COP28. Image by COP28 \/ Mahmoud Khaled via\u00a0Flickr<\/a>\u00a0(CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pledges and bans
\n<\/strong>COP28 started off with several promises of money for rainforest conservation. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged $100 million to Papua New Guinea, $60 million to the Democratic Republic of Congo and $50 million to the Republic of Congo to try and gin up private spending on carbon credits<\/a> to keep forests intact. The U.K. pledged $38 million to the Amazon Fund<\/a>, and Norway later committed $50 million.<\/p>\n

In addition, a coalition including the U.S., U.K., Japan<\/a>, Germany and others agreed to boost low-carbon construction, including with sustainable wood. And 21 countries joined the Mangrove Breakthrough, an international pledge signed at COP27 to restore<\/a> and protect 15 million hectares (37 million acres) of mangroves by 2030. More than 150 banks and corporations said they would ramp up investments in nature-based solutions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Though these pledges sound impressive, they pale in comparison to the size of the problem: the \u201cfinance gap\u201d we need to make up to reverse biodiversity and nature loss by 2030 is\u00a0$700 billion<\/a>\u00a0every year, according to a 2020 report sponsored by The Nature Conservancy. We\u2019re still far short of spending that much, the NGO said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAchieving agricultural sustainability was actually the biggest source of financial need,\u201d said Andrew Deutz of TNC.<\/p>\n

While spending more on the preservation of nature has proven<\/a> hard enough, cracking down on the spending that leads to destruction is even trickier. The U.K. took a major step forward on that at COP28 by announcing a long-awaited ban on palm oil<\/a>, cacao, beef, leather and soy products linked to illegal forest loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings like deforestation, I think, really connect with the British public,\u201d Steve Barclay, the U.K.\u2019s secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, told Mongabay and other media. \u201cWhen they go to the major retailers, [they] want to be confident that their pound of consumer spend is not causing greater deforestation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the U.K. first declared action against deforestation commodities as part of the Environment Act in 2021, it has only listed which products would be regulated after the European Union\u00a0adopted<\/a>\u00a0a similar ban.<\/p>\n

But whereas the EU has barred products tied to any deforestation at all, the U.K. ban applies only to those linked to\u00a0illegal<\/em>\u00a0deforestation, which is much harder to determine from satellite imagery or other information. And it doesn\u2019t include maize, coffee and rubber, all common products stemming from areas where people are razing rainforest<\/a>. Reid from Global Witness added that if the definition of illegality isn\u2019t extended to include human<\/a> rights abuses, then the legislation won\u2019t help stop land grabs from Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to meet this 2030 target to not only halt but reverse deforestation, the law is going to need to go a lot further, a lot faster,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

During COP28, a bipartisan group of legislators in the United States reintroduced a similar piece of legislation called the\u00a0FOREST Act<\/a>, which failed to pass in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important that you see the other major economies moving in the same direction because you\u2019re only going to solve the trade issue by like tightening the net on bad actors,\u201d Reid said. \u201cOtherwise, you\u2019re going to end up with a split market.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A rubber plantation in Gabon<\/a>. Whereas the EU has barred products tied to any deforestation at all, the U.K. ban applies only to those linked to illegal deforestation, which is much harder to determine from satellite imagery or other information. Image by jbdodane via\u00a0Flickr<\/a>\u00a0(CC BY-NC 2.0<\/a>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Aerial
Aerial view of rainforest in Gabon. Image by Rhett A. Butler\/Mongabay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carbon credit controversy
\n<\/strong>While governments remain the key actors, many advocates have sought to entice private finance to invest in preserving forests through carbon credits. COP28 was supposed to move forward on implementing Article 6 of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which seeks to do just that. Instead, it dealt a blow to the whole idea.<\/p>\n

Negotiators couldn\u2019t agree on the rules of Article 6.2, a mechanism for bilateral deals in which a party would pay for deforestation reductions in another country and count them against its goals for achieving net-zero emissions<\/a>. They also failed to adopt Article 6.4 to set up a U.N.-regulated market for carbon credits<\/a>. They did, however, move forward on Article 6.8 to establish \u201cnonmarket approaches\u201d or essentially grants<\/a> for forest preservation, a decision hailed by more purist forest activists and governments like that of Bolivia.<\/p>\n

A major disagreement has been whether \u201cemissions avoidance\u201d should count as one of the carbon<\/a> \u201cremovals\u201d that Article 6 is meant to regulate. If it did, it would essentially would mean that a country could earn money for keeping a forest standing, since those trees<\/a> remove carbon from the atmosphere. Scandals in the past year have raised doubts, however, about whether these removals can ever be\u00a0reliably proven<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, players like the United States and Arab countries have been arguing that they should be part of the market to generate the most funding for forests<\/a>. But Kevin Conrad, director of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations and a longtime supporter of the REDD+<\/a> framework for results-based payments on deforestation, said these players aren\u2019t helping forests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re stripping out all the regulation that\u2019s necessary to build trust and confidence and creating<\/a> the system where anything goes,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when you have the Wild West and we have anything goes, that\u2019s the voluntary market today where prices have dropped to a buck and nobody understands what they\u2019re buying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erika Lennon, a senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental<\/a> Law, said the bickering over Article 6 rules has demonstrated that carbon markets \u201care not the solution we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is obviously needed is a rapid, full, fast, fair, funded phase-out of all fossil fuels without loopholes to allow big polluters to keep emitting while theoretically offsetting their emissions with actions<\/a> elsewhere,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Group
Group picture with several country and ministry representatives at COP28. Image by COP28 \/ Stuart Wilson via\u00a0Flickr<\/a>\u00a0(CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tropical Forests Forever
\n<\/strong>With the controversy over carbon credits only growing, Brazil announced a different approach at COP28 called\u00a0Tropical Forests Forever<\/a>, which would essentially create a $250 billion trust fund for forest conservation. Critics say that even if the sale of a carbon credit keeps one patch of forest from being cut down, deforestation will often simply shift to another patch that isn\u2019t protected<\/a>. Under this new initiative, governments and corporations would donate to a fund that would pay countries a dividend based on how many hectares of primary forest<\/a> they keep standing. If a country lets a hectare be cut down, its payments from the fund would be reduced by a factor of 100.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the kind of scale nature needs,\u201d said Glenn Hurowitz, CEO of the NGO Mighty Earth.<\/p>\n

Brazil said it would have Tropical Forests<\/a> Forever up and running by COP30 in Bel\u00e9m. Some have questioned, however, if that timeline is realistic, or whether nations and companies will be eager to volunteer money for a scheme that can\u2019t be claimed against a net-zero<\/a> pledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Amazon Fund has an excellent reputation, and the Brazilian proposal for a new global forest facility is a welcome<\/a> breath of fresh air,\u201d said Ruth Davis, a former adviser to the COP26 presidency on food and nature. \u201cBut this doesn\u2019t mean that they have magically solved the problem of why investors would put money into a fund that doesn\u2019t promise an offsetting claim or how best to ensure that any money paid out rewards national governments and benefits local<\/a> communities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A special announcement interrupted the \u201cHalting and Reversing Forest Loss by 2030\u201d event during Nature, Land Use and Oceans Day at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai: COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber would make a surprise appearance, the moderator said. But Al Jaber didn\u2019t show up and he didn\u2019t make any major statements that day. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8788"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8794,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8788\/revisions\/8794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfwt.sua.ac.tz\/ecosystems\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}