More than 100 global leaders have pledged to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by the end of the decade, underpinned by $19 billion in public and private funds to invest in protecting and restoring forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The promise, made in a joint statement issued late on Monday at the COP26 climate talks<\/a> in Glasgow, was backed by the leaders of countries including Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which collectively account for 85% of the world’s forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forest and Land Use will cover forests totaling more than 13 million square miles, according to a statement released by the UK prime minister’s office on behalf of the leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several additional government and private initiatives were launched on Tuesday to help reach that goal, including billions in pledges for indigenous guardians of the forest and sustainable agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Forests absorb roughly 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the nonprofit World Resources Institute. The forests take the emissions out of the atmosphere<\/a> and prevent them from warming the climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet this natural climate buffer\u00a0is rapidly disappearing<\/a>. The world lost 258,000 sq km (99,600 sq miles) of forest in 2020, according to WRI’s deforestation tracking initiative Global Forest Watch, an area larger than the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n