Britain says 100 countries have committed to ending deforestation

A deforested area in Brazil.
(Image credit: Tarso Sarraf/AFP via Getty Images)

More than 100 countries have come together at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow and pledged to end deforestation by 2030, the British government announced on Monday.

Deforestation is the removal of a wide swath of trees from an area that is then converted to non-forest use, a practice that scientists say is fueling climate change. Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, is absorbed by forests, but they are being cleared out around the world because of the high demand for wood and pastoral land.

The countries that committed to ending deforestation are home to more than 85 percent of the Earth's forests, and include the United States, Brazil, China, Colombia, Congo, Russia, and Indonesia. More than $19 billion in public and private funds have been pledged for the plan, The Associated Press reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.