Over 100 countries vow to end deforestation at climate talks

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By FRANK JORDANS and JILL LAWLESS

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — More than 100 countries pledged Tuesday to end deforestation in the coming decade — a promise that experts say would be critical to limiting climate change but one that has been made and broken before.

Britain hailed the commitment as the first big achievement of the U.N. climate conference known as COP26 taking place this month in the Scottish city of Glasgow. But campaigners say they need to see the details to understand its full impact.

The U.K. government said it has received commitments from leaders representing more than 85% of the world’s forests to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Among them are several countries with massive forests, including Brazil, China, Colombia, Congo, Indonesia, Russia and the United States.

More than $19 billion in public and private funds have been pledged toward the plan.



Colorful trees stand near a road through the Taunus region near Frankfurt, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2021. More than 100 countries are pledging to end deforestation, which scientists say is a major driver of climate change. Britain hailed the commitment as the first big achievement of the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-business-united-nations-scotland-a96c50c03653ea95139f4cef3b621c70

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Half empty suit

You can plant trees, but the benefits only increase as they age, and that's later - 10,20,30,40 years later.

Houses and grass don't plant a lot of trees. Stripped farmland don't plant a lot of trees. Paving and highways and strip malls and factories aren't tree intensive.

So this is a minor contributing solution to the problem. I would think if they did this well it couldn't help 7% in 35 years.

[marie999]

2. So far I haven't seen anything to slow down climate change.

[Bayard]

3. China

Don't see that curtailing deforestation there is going to outweigh all their new coal-fired plants.

[Mountain Mule]

4. I'll believe if I ever see it

Bolsonaro is happily deforesting the Amazon even as we speak. The forests of the tropical South-East are vanishing and being replaced by palms grown for the palm oil industry. In the US more of our forests are destroyed every year due to wildfires, bark beetle and unfriendly conditions brought on by the ever increasing temperatures due to global warming. Talk is cheap.

[Magoo48]

5. 'The elephants are doin' the hokey-pokey all around the room.

To quote Greta, “blah, blah, blah.”

[Calista241]

6. Didn't Trump sign us up for the Trillion Tree Campaign?

I wonder how he did on implementing that, probably not very good.

This agreement is better, and its impact shouldn't be underestimated.

And if he doesn't work, we can all look forward to a cyberpunk world where we get to live in a VR environment. How fun would that be?

[ripcord]

7. This is a dog and pony show

Over 400 jets to deliver the participants to Glasgow with even more cars idling while they wait for the attendees to arrive, can't have them getting into cold cars can we?

[Steelrolled]

8. Most media reports seems to be trying to be kind

but this is extremely weak sauce. At least the world isn't blaming the US (that I know of).