Colombia Steps Forward to Reduce Deforestation & Carbon Emissions

| Didhiti Ghosh, Bureau Chief, IOP, Kolkata - 17 May 2019

Colombia Steps Forward to Reduce Deforestation & Carbon Emissions

By Didhiti Ghosh, Bureau Chief (Kolkata), Indian Observer Post

The Tropical Forest Alliance, hosted by the World Economic Forum, has concluded its Annual Meeting in Bogotá, Colombia
Brazil, on a similar note, achieved significant results through reducing emissions from deforestation in the Amazon biome
Outcomes from the meeting include two major initiatives by the Colombian government, including a new $20 million BioCarbon Fund to promote low-carbon investment and a commitment to eliminate deforestation from meat and dairy production in the country
The German government also joined the Alliance
The President of Colombia, Iván Duque expressed a strong commitment to stopping tropical deforestation
In 2014 the New York Declaration on Forests called for halving global deforestation rates by 2020 and ending it by 2030

Kolkata/Geneva, May 17^th, 2019: The World Economic Forum’s Tropical Forest Alliance annual meeting, which concluded in the Bogotá, capital of Colombia has seen a number of commitments that will contribute to the Alliance’s goal of protecting the world’s tropical rainforests. The meeting took place the same week world scientists warned that deforestation was one of the key drivers of ecological collapse, with up to 1 million species at risk of extinction (according to the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – IPBES Report).

The present meeting convened over 200 leaders from government, business and civil society and was co-hosted by the Colombian government. With over 50% of its land area forested, Colombia has the second-highest biodiversity density in the world after Brazil.

TFA 2020 is a global public-private partnership, its governance serving the needs of partners from three sectors: business, government, and civil society. Specifically, TFA 2020 is committed to reducing tropical deforestation related to key global commodities by 2020, starting with soy, beef, palm oil, and paper and pulp. Its governance has this mission at its core.

On a similar note in March 2019, Brazil became the first country to receive financial resources from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for having successfully reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation in the past. It is estimated that the country reduced a total of 6,125,501,727.00 tCO2e of emissions from deforestation in that area between 2006 and 2015.

The payment from the GCF is based on results achieved by Brazil in the Amazon biome between 2014-2015, and which have been reported and validated by experts from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is the essence of REDD: a mechanism to reward countries for having reduced their deforestation.

Important outcomes from the present meeting included:

The launch by the Colombian government of a $20 million BioCarbon Fund aimed at reducing deforestation and degradation, promoting smart agriculture and sustainable land use – the funding corresponds to commitments by the governments of Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom
The Colombian government’s successful conclusion of an agreement with the meat and dairy industries to eliminate deforestation – the two strategic sectors complement existing agreements on cocoa and palm oil in the country
The German government, through the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), joined the Tropical Forest Alliance

Among other outcomes from the meeting were agreements to promote South-South cooperation at the national and sub-national level. These groups, along with business and civil society leaders, have agreed to hold a special meeting during the UN Climate Action Summit 2019 in September.

In his address to the Alliance, the President of Colombia, Iván Duque, expressed a strong commitment to stopping tropical deforestation. The actions and commitment of the Colombian government mark an important milestone in the global fight against deforestation. Deforestation has actually increased in the country since the peace agreement was signed and, in response, the government has developed an integrated strategy that involves fighting illegality, advancing deforestation-free supply chains, promoting restoration and implementing an innovative carbon tax.

Colombia will join a growing list of countries determined to champion the role of nature-based solutions to address climate change in New York in September.

“It’s quite simple. Life on earth isn’t possible without forests because they are integral to ecosystems and livelihoods around the world. While the original commitment was to eliminate deforestation from commodity supply chains by 2020, companies and governments have made important progress to enhance transparency and clean up supply chains over the last decade. It is only by coming together and harnessing the power of the full Alliance to force through a real systemic change that protecting our forests for future generations can be achieved,” said Justin Adams, Director, Tropical Forest Alliance.

“Colombia is proud to host this meeting to showcase how we are advancing to differentiate our production of palm oil and cocoa as deforestation-free on the world stage and to take the beef and dairy supply chains along that same route. Currently, we face a spike of deforestation in the Colombian Amazon and the TFA meeting provided an opportunity to involve companies in reversing these trends by understanding their supply chains and working to eliminate any trace of deforestation from them. Thus, the private sector can be part of the solution and help us tackle this complex problem,” said Roberto Esmeral, Vice-Minister of Territorial Environmental Planning of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia.

In 2010, members of the Consumer Goods Forum, including many major food and consumer goods companies, committed to ending deforestation in key supply chains. Governments, businesses, civil society and indigenous people’s organizations further strengthened commitments in 2014 by endorsing the New York Declaration on Forests, which called for halving global deforestation rates by 2020 and ending it by 2030.

The Tropical Forest Alliance was brought into the World Economic Forum in 2015 to accelerate action on deforestation in the run-up to 2020 and beyond.

In Image: Iván Duque, President of Colombia

Image Courtesy: Yahoo Noticias, TFA website

(DIDHITI GHOSH is an India Columnist at La Agencia Mundial de Prensa, USA, and is the Bureau Chief of Indian Observer Post based in Kolkata. E-mail: didhiti.24@gmail.com | LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2H6gNAv).