As we approach the closing of the first quarter of 2021, we emerge from a winter dominated by pandemic into a spring that will be dominated by the continuing impact of Covid-19 on the global economy. Today is the UN’s International Day of Forests, with the 2021 theme being restoration: a path to recovery and well-being.
Deforestation is a leading factor in rising greenhouse gas emissions. There is no solution to climate change without a solution to deforestation. Deforestation is also a major contributor to biodiversity loss and other nature destruction. Global leaders are linking biodiversity and climate together with increasing frequency, with deforestation being the major meeting point of these two issues. Deforestation is driven by global markets for commodities like beef, soy, palm oil and pulpwood, which are in turn supported by investments, bonds and loans from financial institutions. Global Canopy's new animation demonstrates this interconnectivity, and how transparency and data can be the key for reversing negative impacts on nature.
Global Canopy's different initiatives, including Forest 500, provide open data, free of charge, adding to the growing sense that the ‘lack of data’ rationale for a lack of action is weakening by the day. The initiatives have been transformative in building the growing momentum towards what feels like a new dawn of transparency for the global economy.
As policy makers and economic powerbrokers around the world consider how the spring of 2021 must mark the beginning of a new era in our battle with the climate and nature crises, they have at their fingertips an unprecedented level of transparency and data with which to make evidence-based decisions.
