Trudeau signs COP26 pledge to end deforestation by 2030. What does it mean for Canada?

More than 100 countries at COP26, including Canada, have agreed to end deforestation in the coming decade. But what does that mean for Canada?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined more than 100 other nations at the COP26 climate summit in agreeing to end and reverse deforestation by 2030, backed by $19 billion in funds from countries and some private companies.

But what exactly does this promise mean for Canada and how does the Trudeau government plan to follow through on this pact?

The pledge, made late Monday at the climate talks in Glasgow, was signed by the leaders of countries including the U.K., U.S., Canada, Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which collectively account for 85 per cent of the world’s forests.

The nearly US$20 billion in pooled funding will go towards ending and reversing deforestation and land degradation while promoting “sustainable commodity production and consumption.” Another US$1.5 billion in funding was also announced to help protect the Congo Basin – home to the second-largest tropical rain forest in the world.

Forests are vital in the fight against climate change. Around the world they absorb roughly 30 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to the nonprofit World Resources Institute.

Just last year, around the world roughly 258,000 square kilometres of forest  – an area larger than the size of the United Kingdom – was lost to deforestation, according to the World Resources Institute’s tracking initiative Global Forest Watch.

It’s important to note the agreement centres on the international definition of deforestation: forest which is permanently lost to other uses like agriculture, resource extraction, or housing.

READ MORE: Clearcutting B.C. forests contributing more to climate change than fossil fuels