COP26 Calls for Partnership to Protect Climate, Forest 

Emma Okonji

COP26 President, Alok Sharma is calling on world leaders to join the launch of the Forests and Climate Leaders’ Partnership at COP27, to scale up action to protect, conserve and restore the world’s forests while delivering sustainable development and promoting an inclusive rural transformation. 

He is also calling on future COP Presidencies to join the UK in maintaining momentum on forests year-on-year.

Participating countries will meet annually to enhance collective efforts to maximise the contribution of forests and sustainable land use to global and national climate goals.

With the first meeting of the Forests and Climate Leaders’ Partnership taking place at COP27 in Egypt this November, member countries representing a range of regions, forest areas, and economic and financial centres will focus their combined support on transformational areas of action. These include cooperation related to high integrity carbon markets for forests, building robust forest economies that contribute to a net-zero world, securing and protecting applicable forest tenure rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, and scaling efforts to conserve and sustainably manage high integrity forests.

Members will work closely with the private sector, civil society and community leaders to implement and rapidly scale up solutions on deforestation, reforestation and sustainable forest and land use management, that reflect each members’ national context and priorities as well as the urgency of the global climate crisis.

“By joining, countries are committing to lead by example in the implementation of their national goals and striving to be more ambitious over time. They are also committing to work together to advance global forests and climate efforts, and to meet annually to take stock of progress,” Sharma said.