Deforestation, just as the words resembles, is removing Earth’s forests at an abundant amount. This is mostly done through cutting trees or burning them, leaving a large amount of damage to the land where this cruel act was done. Forests still cover 30% of the world’s area, but this is not enough.
As you might know, the COP22 is happening in Marrakesh very soon, so we thought that focusing on such topics at this time precisely would be of a great help. In this article, we are mentioning the first country to ban deforestation: Norway… shedding light, at the same time, on this dangerous action on our lives and the life of our planet.
The Norwegian Parliament pledged May 26 that the government’s public procurement policy will be deforestation-free. Ecowatch mentioned that “Any product that contributes to deforestation will not be used in the Scandinavian country. The pledge was recommended by Norwegian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Energy and Environment as part of the Action Plan on Nature Diversity. Rainforest Foundation Norway was the main lobbying power behind this recommendation and has worked for years to bring the pledge to existence”.
Nils Hermann Ranum, the head of Policy and Campaign at Rainforest Foundation Norway, said in a statement: “This is an important victory in the fight to protect the rainforest. Over the last few years, a number of companies have committed to cease the procurement of goods that can be linked to destruction of the rainforest.
“Until now, this has not been matched by similar commitments from governments. Thus, it is highly positive that the Norwegian state is now following suit and making the same demands when it comes to public procurements”.
The Huffington Post, on the other hand, mentioned that “In 2008, Norway gave Brazil — which is home to 60 percent of the Amazon — $1 billion to help fight deforestation. And Brazil delivered. By 2015, the South American nation reduced deforestation by a whopping 75 percent, saving more than 33,000 square miles of forest and keeping 3.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide kept out of the atmosphere — an amount that’s three times bigger than the effect of taking all the cars in the U.S. off the road for a year, according to National Geographic“.
Why is banning deforestation important though?… It’s not just because the above-mentioned international media outlets covered the story, but because the importance of trees in our lives is much bigger than we expect. Trees will take out all the unnecessary CO2 in the atmosphere. Remember that gas that harms our health and environment?… So, do we need more actions that would add up to the oxygen in the atmosphere or do we need “suffocating” ones?
