"Conserving our forests and other critical ecosystems is indispensable — an indispensable piece of keeping our climate goals within reach as well as many other key priorities that we have together: ensuring clean water, maintaining biodiversity, supporting rural and Indigenous communities, and reducing the risk of the spread of disease."
– US President Joe Biden, COP 26 "Action on Forests and Land-Use”  

Dear friends, 

 

With COP26 now wrapped up, we’re pleased to share an update from our coalition’s time in Glasgow, and some of our reflections on major developments coming out of this critical COP.  (Sign up here if you want to receive infrequent updates from our Coalition's work)

We saw increasing recognition of the link between climate change and pandemics at COP26, with more organizations, leaders and governments joining the conversation on pandemic prevention through environmental conservation. The Preventing Pandemics at the Source coalition’s roundtable on 9 Nov succeeded in amplifying the messages around the need to protect tropical forests and wildlife to address the two concurrent and interlinked global crises: pandemics and the climate emergency.  

 

This event was co-hosted  with H. E. Per Olsson Fridh, Minister for International Development Cooperation for Sweden; H. E. Prof. Lee White, Minister of Forests, Oceans, Environment and Climate Change, for Gabon; and the Global Environment Facility Secretariat, and featured a diverse panel of leaders from governments, environmental organizations, Indigenous communities and international organizations.

 

The panelists discussed the linkages between the destruction of nature, pandemic risk and climate; the pressing need for immediate action that recognizes the inherent interconnectedness between these issues; the cost-effectiveness of the pandemic prevention measures we're advocating for, and the need to acknowledge the critical role of Indigenous communities as stewards of the forest, with a rich wealth of nature-based solutions and indigenous knowledge that should be learned from and scaled. 

  

See highlights from the event below, or watch the full session recording here. 

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There was a strong and active public health presence at COP26, which was very welcome. Headline data like 8 million deaths per year from air pollution (almost double the official total global deaths from COVID-19) are now becoming a central part of the climate narrative and help call attention to the interlinkages between health and climate. 

 

Quote from our Roundtable

“The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our social, economic, and health systems is one example in a long series of wider systemic failures, including the systemic failure to make the connection between our own health, healthy ecosystems, our climate, and our socioeconomic and financial structures.” 
- Cristina Romanelli, Programme Officer, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Health, WHO

 

There was major progress on forests and on resources for Indigenous peoples. Over 140 countries pledged to halt and reverse forest-loss and land degradation by 2030 in the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use. Governments and private sector actors pledged ~$19 billion in funding for forest protection, and also $1.7 billion for Indigenous peoples.

 

Our Coalition welcomes these commitments, but will be watching carefully on whether the funding materializes. The commitments are substantial, but fall short of the $10 billion per year we have been calling for pandemic prevention. We’re also cautious that this is not the first time major commitments on forest have been made, and it will take ongoing advocacy and efforts to hold countries accountable in order to ensure funds do get spent as committed.  

 

Quote from our Roundtable

“With this pandemic, how many billions of real money has been invested into hospitals, into vaccines which are still unequal and unjust. But when we come back to nature, come back to the climate, all the money is only ‘commitments’.  We still do not have the hundreds of billions that were committed at Copenhagen, which were meant to be spent by 2020” 

- Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, President, Association of Peul Women and Autochthonous Peoples of Chad

 

We will also continue to advocate for the money to be spent in ways that protect forests, climate whilst also reducing the risk of future pandemics. Spending plans need to reflect the fact that protecting intact forests not only benefits the climate, but also helps protect us from future pandemics by preventing them at their source – the point of disease spillover from animals to humans. They must fund holistic forest management given that maintaining intact forests is essential to avoid serious disturbances to the complex ecosystems that sustain our world. 

 

Interview at COP26 Nature's Newsroom

“We need to focus on investments that prevent pandemics before they start. Forests are hotspots for emerging diseases and forest conversation can help us protect the climate, protect Indigenous rights, and it may forestall the next pandemic.” 

- Dr. Ari Bernstein, Interim Director of The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and leader of the Scientific Task Force for Preventing Pandemics at the Source

 

VIDEO: WATCH Dr. Nigel Sizer, Executive Director of Preventing Pandemics at the Source interview at COP26, discussing our broken relationship with nature - and the urgent need protect and conserve the environment to prevent future pandemics:

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VIDEO: WATCH our Coalition member Dr. Jane Goodall discuss the risk of new pandemics emerging from increased spillover points driven by climate change:

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[PODCAST] BBC World Service: Bambi got COVID Why the discovery of COVID-19 in white-tail deer has implications for climate policy, with Coalition Scientific Advisor, Dr. Aaron Bernstein

 

[NEWS] Modern Diplomacy: COP26 Presents Historic Opportunity to Stamp Out the Next Pandemic Before It Starts 

 

[COMMENT] Politico (US): Seeking buy-in for a new world health order At COP26, the pandemic underscores reasons to worry about climate change (Article starts two thirds down the page)

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