Sophia Frazer-Binns, the People’s National Party shadow minister for land, environment and climate change, has thrown her full support behind the ‘Action on Forests and Land Use’ declaration.

The Action brings together an unprecedented coalition of governments, businesses, financial actors, and non-state actors to raise the bar on forest and land-use goals

“These commitments cited in the Declaration could essentially fund a halt in devastation of our forests including mangroves and the Cockpit Country,” Frazer-Binns said in a statement from the PNP.

“Additionally, they recognise the innate responsibility and traditions which our Maroons have long upheld in protecting the Cockpit Country.”

The PNP statement came as the Government continued to be pilloried on social media for its perceived hypocrisy in signing on to the declaration on deforestation during the COP26 climate summit, even while approving mining leases for bauxite mining in the Cockpit Country.

KEY COMMITMENTS

In its statement, the PNP said it took particular note of the following commitments:

● Over 100 leaders of countries with more than 86 per cent of the world’s forests, committed to working together to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.

● 12 donor countries have pledged to provide US$12 billion (£8.75 billion) of public climate finance from 2021 to 2025. This will support action in developing countries, including restoring degraded land, tackling wildfires and advancing the rights of Indigenous Peoples like our Maroons as well as local communities adversely affected by mining.

● 14 country and philanthropic donors also pledged at least US$1.7 billion from 2021 to 2025 to advance the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to forest tenure and support their role as guardians of forests and nature.

● In addition, at least £5.3 billion (US$7.2 billion) of private sector funding has been mobilised.

● CEOs from more than 30 financial institutions with over US$8.7 trillion of global assets have committed to eliminate investment in activities linked to commodity driven deforestation, alongside the billions of private finance mobilised to support the forest economy.

● The Lowering of Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF) Coalition exceeded its own target of mobilising US$1 billion in public-private commitments. LEAF will provide financing to tropical and subtropical countries that successfully reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation.

Said Frazer-Binns: “This action by world leaders reinforces our call for absolutely NO mining in the cockpit country and the creation of a buffer zone to further protect our forests, our Maroons and their way of life as well as the lives and livelihoods of rural communities.”