
Declaration on Forests and Land Use
Mar 29, 2022
Declaration on Forests and Land Use
Q What is the context ?
A At COP-26 in Glasgow, countries got together to sign the Declaration on Forests and Land Use (or the Deforestation Declaration). However, India was among the few countries that did not sign the declaration.
Q What is this Deforestation Declaration?
A
- It was signed by 142 countries, which represented over 90 percent of forests across the world.
- The declaration commits to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 while delivering sustainable development and promoting an inclusive rural transformation.
- The signatories committed $19 billion in private and public funds to this end.
Q Why did India abstain from joining?
A
- India had concerns about the linkage the declaration makes between deforestation, infrastructure development and trade.
- Any commitment to the environment and climate change should not involve any reference to trade, cited India.
- Analysts in India have linked the decision to a proposed amendment to the Forest Conservation Act 1980 that would ease the clearances presently required for acquiring forest land for new infrastructure projects.
Q Why India abstained from many things ?
A
- A look at India’s positions on some other recent critical pledges and decisions related to climate change reveals a clear pattern of objections or absence.
- At CoP26, India was not part of the dialogue on Forests, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT).
- FACT, which is supported by 28 countries seeks to encourage “sustainable development and trade of agricultural commodities while protecting and managing sustainably forests and other critical ecosystems”.
- India also voted against a recent draft resolution to allow for discussions related to climate change and its impact on international peace and security to be taken up at the UNSC.
Q Why should India join this declaration?
A
- Broadly speaking, all of India’s objections are based on procedural issues at multilateral fora.
- Although justifiable on paper, these objections seem blind to the diverse ways in which climate change is linked to global trade, deforestation, agriculture, and international peace, among other issues.
- For context, consider India’s palm oil trade. India is the largest importer of crude palm oil in the world.
- Palm oil cultivation, covering roughly 16 million acres of land in Indonesia and Malaysia, has been the biggest driver of deforestation in the two countries.