COP26 highlight: Global Leaders pledge to end deforestation by 2030

November 2nd is a big day for nature & forests at COP26. Over 100 world leaders are to commit to halt and reverse deforestation & land degradation by 2030, with the backing of major forest countries including Brazil, Indonesia and Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This is to be enabled due to a pledge from 12 countries to provide $12 billion of public finance from 2021 – 2025, in order to support developing countries actions to protect indigenous community rights and land stewardship,  restore degraded land and tackle wildfires.

The Congo Basin, an area home to the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world and threatened by industrial logging, mining and agriculture, will receive £1.1 billion ($1.5bn) from this fund, including £200m from the UK.

28 Governments representing 75% of global trade in key commodities that threaten forests (e.g. soya, palm oil and cocoa) will sign up to a new Forests, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Statement, committing to a common set of actions to deliver sustainable trade and reduce pressure on forests, including support for smallholder farmers and improving the transparency of supply chains.

There will also be announcements from the financial and private sectors, including:

• 30 leading financial institutions will commit to tackle agricultural commodity-driven deforestation as part of broader efforts to drive the global shift towards sustainable production and nature-based solutions.
• The LEAF Coalition will announce $1 billion from its three government participants (UK, Norway and US) and nearly 20 corporate participants. (Half of this from private sector participants)
• The Innovative Finance for the Amazon, Cerrado and Chaco (IFACC) initiative has committed $3 billion to channel funding to deforestation-free soy and cattle production in Latin America.
• The Natural Capital Investment Alliance has raised $1.1 billion to scale investment in nature-based solutions and the bioeconomy.
• the Bezos Earth Fund has pledged an $2bn, following the $1bn pledged on 21 September 2021.
• $0.6bn from other philanthropic organisations.

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