Deforestation has been something that has ridden our land for thousands of years. New buildings and roads have been detrimental to the amount of green forests that we still have today. Animals and insects are being stripped of their homes and ecosystems by humans who want to expand their hold on the world.

For many centuries, humans have been using wood to do many things, creating homes, building boats, and making tools. For us, it was an essential part of our society that helped us grow and prosper. But now, it is costing us a future. At the COP26, many world leaders met at a summit to discuss more ways to help stop climate change, one of them being deforestation. In a CNN article it stated that, “More than 100 world leaders representing over 85% of the planet’s forests committed on Tuesday to ending and reversing deforestation and land degradation by 2030, in the first substantial deal announced at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow.” This would be a major help in slowing global warming for the Earth and may be the key to cooling down our planet for the foreseeable future.

Countries like Indonesia have to agree to this new policy to change because they are very carbon rich countries. In Indonesia, the environment Minister is complaining about how they must have zero emissions by 2030 and that despite the president signing the deal, they will still focus on their development as a top priority which will continue to damage the environment and the world. The minister said, “‘The massive development of President Jokowi’s era must not stop in the name of carbon emissions or in the name of deforestation,’ she said, referring to Mr Widodo by his nickname. ‘Indonesia’s natural wealth, including forests, must be managed for its use according to sustainable principles, besides being fair’”.

Many countries around the world have contributed funds to the restoration of forests and to the protection of the forests that we still have today. Brazil, one of the countries with a majority of the forests in the world, has pledged for its new climate commitments, however, it is said that their goals now are the same ones they set back in 2015. Marcio Astrini, the executive secretary of São Paulo-based Climate Observatory said, “‘They just aligned the numbers to have the same emissions pledges for 2030 that the country already had in 2015,’ Astrini said. The Bolsonaro government, he added, is ‘running to the past while the world is no longer the same, the climate emergency has [worsened] and countries are being called to look to the future.’”
With this being said, by 2030, many leaders are hoping that we can save the planet successfully and not lead it into more ruin.

Students at UHS can help slow down this pandemic by informing others, planting trees, recycling recyclable materials, and supporting companies that are committed to stopping deforestation. By planting trees around our community, you can help add more trees to our environment and help slow down the devastation that will occur eventually.

Deforestation is a great tragedy in our society and by doing our job to stop it, it could eventually lead to saving our planet as a whole for later generations to see.