San Francisco – After Joe Biden made history this week as the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Amazon rainforest, Rainforest Action Network is calling on global political and financial leaders gathered at the UN COP29 Climate Summit to follow through and implement the real structural changes necessary to stop the alarming destruction taking place in the Amazon and other tropical forests across the globe. Deforestation remains a major cause of global carbon emissions and RAN’s call joins the issuance of the Baku Forest Declaration, in which members and allies from Central Asia and the Caucasus are urging a paradigm shift in climate negotiations to prioritize forest protection, Indigenous rights, and climate justice.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has publicly committed to end deforestation in his country by 2030 and has pushed wealthy nations to contribute to the Amazon Fund run by Brazil’s state development bank. During his stop in the Amazon, Biden announced an additional $50 million contribution to the Amazon Fund, bringing the U.S. commitment to $100 million. In 2021, the United States was among more than 140 countries that vowed to end deforestation by 2030. Last year, Biden pledged $500 million over five years to fight deforestation in Brazil.
During his speech, flanked by Brazilian Indigenous and conservation leaders, Biden said “It’s often said that the Amazon is the lungs of the world. But in my view, our forest and national wonders are the heart and soul of the world. The Amazon rainforest was built up over 15 million years. Fifteen million years of history is literally watching us now.”
In the lead up to the G20 and COP29 gatherings of global leaders underway this week, the Forests and Finance Coalition published two major reports outlining both the key drivers of global deforestation and the actions needed by world leaders to address it. Banking on Biodiversity Collapse is the most comprehensive analysis of global finance’s role in furthering tropical forest destruction, while Regulating Finance for Biodiversity examines financial sector regulations required in key areas to stop the tide of financing from the banks and investors responsible for financing tropical deforestation.
“While we welcome and appreciate President Biden’s visit to the Amazon and his urgent words calling for its protection, the stark reality is that current commitments coming from the wealthy world at the G20 in Brazil and the COP29 in Baku are a drop in the bucket of what is needed to address this global crisis,” said Ginger Cassady, Executive Director of Rainforest Action Network. “There is no solution to the climate crisis that does not address the deforestation crisis and prioritize Indigenous land rights, and that means ending the unrestricted flow of hundreds of billions of dollars into the companies actively driving the destruction. As we begin to look towards the high stakes COP30 climate summit to be hosted next year in Brazil, the world desperately needs real, tangible action, including structural changes to the financial system. Anything less is a death sentence for our world’s forests and the future generations who depend on them.”