NbSI Director Professor Nathalie Seddon recently spoke at Climate Week NYC in a panel session on Deforestation-Free Finance by 2025, hosted by Conservation International, Nature4Climate, Tropical Forest Alliance, Global Canopy, and Climate Champions. Moderated by Danielle Carreira of WEF Tropical Forest Alliance, the panel also included Climate Champion Nigel Topping, and Emine Isciel, Storebrand Head of Climate and Environment.
Emine Isciel shared Storebrand‘s deforestation-free journey, and emphasized the need to act now as “waiting for the perfect data can become an excuse for inaction ….but there are tools out there.” Nigel Topping also highlighted the need to find the good work that is already happening, to break down political barriers to get it to scale at the pace needed. Topping added that there is a need to move from “bold statements to practical action”, and urged financial institutions to commit to the race to zero, and to commit to going deforestation-free by 2025. Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith spoke in a pre-recorded video message, emphasizing the need to re-purpose the “subsidies and incentives that are driving the destruction of nature and shift them to more sustainable agriculture and towards renewal… We have all the knowledge, tools and technology we need to use land much more sustainably than we do today and to build new markets for nature and carbon and to measure our progress. we just need to scale up, and fast.”
Nathalie discussed the links between finance and deforestation, and the urgency of implementing nature-based solutions. She highlighted that NbS such as protecting and restoring forest ecosystems are not a replacement for carbon emissions reductions, but there is a key set of roles that Deforestation-Free Finance can play:
Understanding the drivers of deforestation is also key to achieve change. The majority of complete deforestation (permanent loss of forest) is driven by commodity production (palm oil, soy, and pasture for beef and dairy production), and despite corporate commitments, it has not declined. Such commodity-driven deforestation must be tackled by:
Broad support for these 3 key actions to tackle commodity-driven deforestation, in particular by the G20, will help keep the 1.5 degree climate goal alive whilst increasing our chances of meeting our adaptation and biodiversity goals this century.
Watch the full panel session recording online, and learn more about the week’s events on the Climate Week NYC website.
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