In a collaborative effort to address the escalating threat of deforestation and protect biodiversity, nations hosting the world’s major rainforests concluded the Three Basins summit on Saturday. While the summit, hosted by the Congo Republic, brought together leaders, NGOs, technical experts, and finance sector officials, a concrete alliance to safeguard crucial carbon sinks remained elusive.
The summit focused on the Amazon, the Congo basin, and Southeast Asia forests, aimed to strengthen governance and preservation initiatives. Presidents from these regions recognized the urgency of cooperation and agreed to work together on a seven-point plan to protect their vital ecosystems.
Republic of Congo’s environment minister, Arlette Soudan Nonault, emphasized the necessity of joining forces, stating, “We’ve realized that joining forces is an absolute necessity, and we’ve recognized that the initiative to unite the three basins is part of an inevitable dynamic.”
The three major rainforests are home to two-thirds of Earth’s biodiversity, making their preservation crucial for global climate targets. However, rapid deforestation poses a significant threat, releasing planet-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
A recent report in October revealed a 4% increase in global deforestation in 2022, signalling a deviation from pledges made at the 2021 U.N. climate talks to halt and reverse forest loss and degradation by 2030.
Over three days in Brazzaville, experts and policymakers discussed shared priorities ahead of the upcoming U.N. COP28 climate talks. The summit addressed various funding mechanisms to assist developing countries in preserving their critical ecosystems.
On the sidelines, Congo Republic took a significant step by signing a roadmap for a forest partnership with the European Union. The partnership aims to increase the percentage of protected, restored, or sustainably managed forests by 2030, create more forest-related jobs, and curb the rate of forest loss.
While the agreement marked progress, environmental organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund, emphasized the need for more substantial efforts. In a statement, the World Wildlife Fund highlighted that additional measures are essential to foster concrete collaboration between the three regions and effectively halt deforestation.
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