Don't Ignore Deforestation at the U.N. Climate Change Conference
The world's tropical rainforests are under threat. Millions of acres of trees are cut down or burned each year to create new farm and pasture land for cattle ranching, oil palm plantations, and other crops.
This tropical deforestation from agricultural expansion is increasing at an alarming rate and, as it does, it threatens biodiversity and displaces indigenous people who depend on forests.
Tropical deforestation is both one of the leading causes of global climate change — releasing more carbon than all of the world's cars and buses combined — and also one of the main levers we can pull right now to begin to solve climate change.
We have the perfect opportunity to turn back the tide at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris next month, but right now the global agreement that will be presented at the conference needs far greater political and financial support.
We have to make it clear that the tropical nations of the world need global support for their efforts to stop rampant deforestation.
If included in a global agreement, the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) program and related programs would work with local farmers, communities and governments to create financial incentives for growing more food, feed and fiber with less forest clearing.
Sign the petition so the tropical nations who are home to the world's rainforests have the support they need to keep these magnificent ecosystems standing in the fight against climate change.
Between palm oil farming, unsustainable ranching, and big agriculture expansion the world's rainforests are being cut down at an alarming pace.
That deforestation from agricultural expansion increases destroys biodiversity and dislocates indigenous people. Worse still, it is also one of the leading causes of global climate change.
At the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris this November, any plan to combat global climate change must include a real plan to slow deforestation caused by agricultural expansion.
The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) program would work with local farmers and governments to create financial incentive for agriculture to reduce the amount of forest they cut down.
It is more important than ever that we work to ensure countries that are home to the world's rainforests have the ability to protect and preserve these bulwarks in the fight against climate change.
Please, recognize the vital need to slow deforestation and include the REDD+ program in the plan to combat climate change this November.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
