A historical moment for both Norway and mankind, as the Norwegian government are the first one to initiate an overall prohibition of deforestation in the country.
Deforestation Policy
The government aims to exclude all products and services within its procurement policy that contributes to deforestation in any shape of form. The piece of law has been lobbied for in the last couple of years, and it transformed into a policy through the Action Plan on Nature Diversity program initiated by the Scandinavian energy committee.
Victory for Rainforest Protection
There has been a trend developing over the last few years within the Norwegian business sector, as an increasing number of companies opted not to utilise resources that have been obtained through deforestation. However, this has not been followed by the public sector until recently – the regulation of public procurement is a big achievement for the battle on deforestation.
Global Trend on Deforestation Banning?
As the UN Climate Summit sounded many issues regarding deforestation, especially by leading nations such as Germany and the UK, the adoption of a zero-tolerance policy should be the next step. It has been a common goal of the Summit to encourage deforestation-free supply chains, yet many states are falling behind Norway in taking action.
Deforestation Abroad
Norway should not only be proud of their efforts to prohibit deforestation related activities locally, but of their projects they have been funding in South America. One, in particular, is the $250 million fund to protect the forests of Guyana, where the environmental protection has never really set foot off the ground.
The Link Between Deforestation and Climate Change
Harsh statistics have been flowing around, to many people’s disbelief – however, they are to be taken seriously. With around 46,000 to 58,000 square miles of forest are destroyed annually, the globe loses 48 football fields of carbon reducing trees every minute. Deforestation as an activity contributes to a massive 15% of all greenhouse emissions, thus the need to prohibit it is undeniable.
If you want to find out more about how we are fighting climate change, take a look at our website: www.arundobioenergy.com
Source: https://www.ecowatch.com/norway-becomes-worlds-first-country-to-ban-deforestation-1891166989.html.
