COP 26 and Deforestation- Drew Holm 11/28/2021

 COP 26 has made progress on the problem of deforestation. Deforestation is a Tragedy of the Commons, a situation where shared environmental resources are overused and exploited, and eventually depleted, posing risks to everyone involved. In order to address this issue, over 100 nations pledged to end deforestation. 

At the COP 26 in November, over 100 countries pledged to end deforestation by 2030. These nations cover over 85% of the world’s forests, meaning there is a real opportunity for the goal to be achieved. Over the decades, the world has seen deforestation occur on a massive scale. According to The World Counts, in the last 40 years, over 1 billion hectares of forest were destroyed, which is about the size of Europe. Since 2016, deforestation has only worsened, as an average of 28 million hectares have been cut down each year. The loss of trees has devastating impacts on both local and global climates. According to the Guardian in 2018, “Deforestation destroys wildlife habitat and is a key reason for populations of wildlife having plunged by half in the last 40 years, starting a sixth mass extinction” (The World Counts). The loss of forests has also led to increases in climate change, as “20 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from the clearing of tropical forests. Since 2000, the loss of tree cover has added 98.7Gt to global CO2-emissions” (The World Counts). Until the most recent COP, the world had done little to address deforestation. The BBC describes a similar pledge addressing deforestation made in 2014. This pledge had little to no impact on deforestation. There are hopes that this time the deal will end differently, as there are significant differences between the two deals. For one, in 2014, countries like Brazil and Russia did not sign on to the agreement. These countries possess large amounts of the world’s forests, as Russia possesses over one fifth of the world’s trees, and in 2020, deforestation in Brazil increased to a 12 year high. Another difference is that many products were still allowed to be made through deforestation. This was seen after the 2014 agreement, as the production of palm oil in Indonesia was still driving deforestation. Many of these issues have been addressed in the most recent agreement, as according to the BBC, “Governments of 28 countries also committed to remove deforestation from the global trade of food and other agricultural products such as palm oil, soya and cocoa”. (BBC) Also, this time Brazil and Russia have committed to the agreement. The increase in commitments towards the end of deforestation, and the renewed commitment allows for hope that this time, change happens, and the world makes an actual effort to stop deforestation. 

The leaders at COP 26 made commitments to end deforestation, however in order for change to happen, governments need to act. While it is uncertain if this pledge will be successful, it does seem like this agreement has a better chance at success than past attempts.