In the first significant agreement reached the COP26 climate summit, more than 100 global leaders will commit to ending and reversing deforestation by 2030. On Tuesday, Brazil will be one of the signatories, since significant swaths of the Amazon rainforest have been logged. Almost £14 billion ($19.2 billion) in public and private contributions are included in the offer. Experts applauded the initiative, but cautioned that a prior agreement in 2014 "failed to curb deforestation at all," and that promises must be kept.
Cutting down trees contributes to climate change by depleting forests, which absorb a large quantity of CO2. Canada, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are among the countries that have said they will sign the promise, which covers around 85 percent of the world's forests. Some of the money will go to poor nations to help with land restoration, wildfire suppression, and indigenous community support.