Leading up to the September 2018 Global Climate Action Summit, 18 foundations including the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation issued a joint statement highlighting forests, indigenous peoples’ rights and sustainable land use as critical yet underappreciated solutions for conservation. The statement represents a significant contribution for mitigating and adapting to a changing climate.
The statement reflects what recent research has shown: land use is responsible for about 24 percent—or approximately 12 billion tons—of the globe’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second-largest source of climate pollution after energy. At the same time, forests and lands capture approximately 30 percent of our carbon emissions each year. Yet, forests currently receive only three percent of all public funding for climate action.
With the hope of boosting investment from other foundations, governments and businesses, nine of the foundations announced their intent to commit at least $459 million through 2022 to protection, restoration and expansion of forests and lands worldwide, and the recognition of indigenous peoples’ and traditional communities’ collective land rights and resource management.
Rampant clear-cutting of tropical forests, often coupled with forest fires, has spelled crisis for the land sector. Burgeoning global demand for commodities--including animal protein and soy—has meant devastating forest loss. Recognizing this, our Forests and Agricultural Markets Initiative works to eliminate the loss and degradation of tropical and sub-tropical forest ecosystems. Deforestation can also have serious repercussions for the indigenous communities who rely on these forests for food and income.
Within this context, effective management of protected areas and indigenous lands plays a significant role in securing carbon stocks. While deforestation rates inside protected areas and indigenous lands are lower, threats remain. The work we support through our Environmental Conservation Program recognizes the importance of sustainable financing and management for areas that have already been protected. That’s why our Andes-Amazon Initiative supports national projects like Brazil’s ARPA for Life, Patrimonio del Peru and Herencia Colombia, and why we’ve supported similar models in Canada and Costa Rica, for globally significant impacts through the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement in Canada and Forever Costa Rica.
These projects—and the joint funders’ statement on the eve of the Global Climate Action Summit—are heartening signs that different actors and organizations can come together in true partnership, finding a commonality in their different interests so that we all amplify our individual contributions.
“Science and philanthropy play critical roles in advancing efforts to preserve and protect forests and land,” Moore Foundation President Harvey Fineberg has explained. “If we continue to treat forests and lands as infinite and expendable resources, science shows that people and the planet will suffer.”
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