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A skulking private sector, glaring finance gaps, and naughty supply chains are some of the leading reasons we’re behind on hitting global deforestation targets, according to experts that have dug into the UNs latest global forest report. Forest area has fallen 1% over 10 years, with the worst losses in South America and Africa. Forest carbon stocks are falling in South America, Africa, and Central America, with an approaching El Niño set to ramp up fires and droughts this year, exacerbating pressures.
Almost 5 years ago the UK put forests on the climate talks map when 140 leaders signed the Glasgow Forest Declaration to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. As ministers touch back down on UK soil for London Climate Action Week (LCAW) this month, the question will be - where is the money for Brazil’s tropical forest fund (TFFF), arguably one of the biggest action levers to come from the Glasgow Declaration? It’s not just the UK under the spotlight for lack of investment. Carney of Canada is off to Brazil next month, and the TFFF is on Lula’s agenda.
*Ministers publicly backing an actionable and financed deforestation roadmap
*A new financial commitment lead to Tropical Forest Forever Facility, or strong future signal
*Recognition and inclusion of Indigenous People’s, local communities and small-scale farmers
*Ministers and private sector connecting the dots on nature and national security publicly
If ‘temperature neutrality’ and ‘no additional warming’ sound suspiciously like nonsense to you, then you’re already doing better than the New Zealand and possibly the Irish governments. Agri-business spanning from the UK, Europe and Argentina have been pushing for a new approach to agri-methane accounting called GWP* (Global Warming Potential Star), which is not automatically cool because of the * unfortunately. 42 leading scientists are warning against the approach, arguing it will undermine climate goals, create inequity between low and high emitting countries, and give high emitting sectors ‘get out of jail free’ cards. Ireland is set to decide on the switch this summer when the government releases its latest carbon budget.
The EU Commission has decided the best way to tackle a costly fossil fuel fertiliser addiction… is to plough more money into fossil fuel fertilisers and stockpile them at the expense of poor struggling nations. Despite nature friendly farmers being pretty much the only ones coming through the Iran war with limited turbulence in Europe, the latest plans only give a nod to organic farming that doesn’t rely on chemicals. Experts have called it ‘fighting fire with fire’, while pushing up the prices of this finite resource for everyone else.
Bonn climate talks this month will mark the beginning of the end for a relatively lacklustre 4-year-long dialogue on food systems - the Sharm-el-Sheik Dialogue. In that time there have been multiple food price crises, and limited food systems shift. As talk of El Niño ramps up, food prices surge globally, and farmers grapple with climate impacts; the next evolution of the dialogues is going to need some considerable reform. If it’s to rise to the challenge, it will need to be replaced with something that involves getting money to small-holder farmers in key countries that hold the resilience of our global food systems at their fingertips.
It’s not all bad: German investment in agri adaptation in Brazil and Ethiopia is helping to shield their $20 billion coffee industry from climate impacts and hold down prices for consumers
When asked to put 1% of profits into a fund for nature, the pharma lobby representing companies that rake in billions of dollars a year, said that investing in nature would pull money away from research and development for life saving meds. A new study has identified hundreds of previously undiscovered microbial species in coral reefs, which could prove invaluable in drug development. While the sector holds off from investing, countries face the worst coral bleaching events on record, which arguably is pretty detrimental to R&D.
After years of neck ache from watching the back and forth, we can all finally rest as the Commission confirms it won’t be re-opening the deforestation regulation, and it’ll still kick in at the end of this year. It hasn’t stopped the leather sector from having one last punt to remove itself, with a decision due soon on whether its EUR240 million a year in imports will be exempt.
It’s a month of contradictions in Brazil, as the mostly conservative lower house approves a set of cuts to environmental regulations that help tackle deforestation, while the government commits $617.5 million to support nature friendly businesses, sustainable tourism, and improved infrastructure in the Amazon.
Did you know you can order KFC to your seat on China’s high-speed trains? You do now. Food security remains top of mind and political agendas with ongoing impacts of the Middle East Crisis. Back in March, China’s new Five Year Plan talked about reducing reliance on imports and creating more national food security. But how can a country that’s gone from food famine, to feeding 1 in 6 people in the world change its food system? There’s a podcast for that.
A ‘heat dome’ has hit Europe, compounding food security concerns. In the UK, the loss of crops and livestock is already costing the economy £205 million a year, and food prices are set to be 50% higher by November than they were 5 years ago. Ground water is drying up in Germany, with concerns mounting for the impacts on farming and drinking water supply.
Like me, you might have a perception of French food that doesn’t quite match the reality. Thinking fresh, high quality, juicy and nutritious. Whistleblowers have flagged that’s far from the reality, with a ‘race to the bottom’ on prices and quality moving full steam ahead. Execs have highlighted the tricks the sector is using to squeeze money from the consumer while making products less healthy and less nature friendly. The ultimate price? A higher health burden in the long run.
Experts are warning that the super El Niño brewing in the Pacific threatens the monsoon crop season starting this month, with lower than average rain predicted. Over 50% of India’s cultivated area remains rain-fed, making agriculture highly vulnerable to monsoon variability while the ongoing fertiliser crisis is compounding risks for farmers.
There’s a contradiction appearing in Indonesia’s surging deforestation rates, and the Attorney General standing next to piles of cash generated through the seizing of illegal palm oil and mining land. The government is seemingly concentrating power over commodities to gain more control, which in part is being presented as a measure to tackle deforestation. Since launching the Forest Area Orderliness Task Force, the government has seized assets equivalent to 10% of Indonesia’s entire national budget. President Prabowo has stated the money will be reinvested into infrastructure.
In another reminder that farmers are one of the most powerful political constituencies, the Trump administration rolled back tariffs on metals that impact farming equipment this month. It comes as experts warn that they might be heading for mid-term losses if farms keep spiralling into bankruptcy.
Despite the Administration’s lobbying against the EU’s deforestation regulation, a set of 22 senators are ploughing ahead with suggesting a US version called The TREE Act.
Here’s a bleak overview of everything the Trump administration has done over the last year on food that has consequences for nature, health and climate. Whilst it’s been a rough start, there could be cracks in the approach, as the Make America Health Movement and MAGA come to loggerheads over pesticides. Vermont’s latest move to become the first US state to ban a herbicide linked to Parkinson’s disease reminds us that states are still fighting the good fight.
3-4: EU Green Week
5: World Environment Day
7: Armenian elections
3-5: Luxembourg International Climate Finance Days
10: Nature-Positive Finance Workshop, Paris
14-16: G7 Summit
17: World Day to combat desertification and drought
8-18: Bonn intersessional
23-26: Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit
24: Regenerative Agriculture Forum
25-26: Oslo Tropical Forest Forum
20-28: London Climate Action Week
29: International Fertiliser Association Conference
Any tips, thoughts, comments - drop me a Whatsapp (+447923098591) or an email (Lindsay.smith@gsccnetwork.org)
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