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Add to Preferred SourcesA new initiative to protect rainforests from further destruction whilst ensuring development and trade is sustainable has been kick-started by the UK as hosts of the COP26 climate summit in November.
The UK launched the Forest, Agriculture, and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue, which will bring together key countries exporting agricultural products and the countries consuming these products to discuss how to make this process greener and more sustainable.
COP26 President-Designate, Alok Sharma, was joined by ministers from more than 18 different countries, including Brazil and South Korea, to kick start this new initiative which will take collaborative action through 2021 to November’s climate conference and beyond.
International trade in commodities like palm oil, soy, and beef, provides over $80bn per annum in export earnings for producer countries and contributes to food security and economic growth in consumer countries. The sector supports 1.5 billion people who depend on it for jobs and livelihoods, many of them in developing countries. Forests continue to disappear at an alarming rate as a result of agricultural production and in some cases, deforestation is increasing.
The FACT Dialogue aims to agree on principles for collaborative action, a shared roadmap for the transition to sustainable supply chains and international trade, and to take action now to protect forests while promoting development and trade.
“I am proud to bring together the countries that can make global trade more sustainable for everyone. This is about working together to protect our precious forests while enhancing livelihoods and supporting economic development and food security, which is one of our key priorities as we work towards COP26 in Glasgow later this year,” said COP26 President-Designate, Alok Sharma.
Action to protect the planet’s diversity and establish a sustainable future will require global collaboration across all society, from policymakers and industrialists, through to the individual consumers.
Protection of the environment is woven through the UN 2030 Sustainable Developments Goals which were agreed on five years ago and Goal 15, Life on Land, speaks specifically to the sustainable use of ecosystems. The launch of the FACT Dialogue today and the establishment of the Global Multi-Stakeholder Task Force represents a major step forward in international collaboration on this pressing issue.