Tuesday, December 6 at 19:30 GMT:
Brazil, Indonesia, and DR Congo are home to more than half of the world’s tropical rainforests, and now they have formed a tripartite agreement aimed at better protecting them in the event of a global climate crisis.
The countries signed the agreement on November 14, ending years of sporadic negotiations. The agreement has been called ‘Opec for rainforests’, and member governments have said that the agreement is a major step that will help protect the Amazon in Brazil, the Congo Basin, and the Indonesian forest. Forests produce life-sustaining gases as they absorb carbon dioxide, a powerful global warming gas.
The alliance will help each other in the conservation of rainforests and encourage rich countries to help with money. But critics say the deal falls far short of getting people to take action. While deforestation has slowed in the Amazon region of Brazil and Indonesia, conservationists say the reduction is slowing in line with rising prices, while deforestation in the Congo Basin has increased.
Environmentalists are worried that the three members of the alliance will finally fulfill the promise made by more than 140 countries to “stop and eliminate” deforestation by 2030.
In this episode of The Stream, we’ll hear from conservationists about the urgent need to protect the rainforests, often referred to as the “lungs of the earth”.
In this episode of The Stream, we are joined by:
Bart Crezee, @bartcrezee
Ecologist and environmental journalist
bartcrezee.com
Kiki Taufiq, @k1k1taufik
Director of the Indonesia Forest Campaign, Greenpeace
Greenpeace.org
Leila Salazar-Lopez, @LeilaSalazar10
Executive Director, Amazon Watch
amazonwatch.org
