Press Release: Rainforest leaders say we can end climate crisis, as UK experiences hottest June on record

What message do rainforest leaders have for the UK?

Rainforest leaders, who have travelled from the rainforests of Brazil, Ecuador, Indonesia and Panama, to London during London Climate Action Week, delivered an important message directly to Westminster – that backing Indigenous communities and the rainforest will help end the climate crisis.

To end the climate crisis, the world needs rapid emissions reductions and large-scale atmospheric restoration. Protecting rainforests is key to this because tropical forests are the most effective carbon-storing technology on the planet.

Why are Indigenous peoples the most effective forest protectors?

Science has proven Indigenous peoples to be the most effective protectors of rainforests, and other biodiverse and carbon rich ecosystems:

• Deforestation rates in Indigenous Peoples territories are 16-26% lower than in comparable non-protected areas. Source: the University of Sheffield.
• Without Indigenous Peoples territories and protected areas, forest loss in the Brazilian Amazon would be 35% higher and carbon emissions 45% greater. Source: the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)

Why are Indigenous communities missing out on climate finance?

Despite their critical role in fighting climate change, Indigenous peoples have until this year received less than 1% of climate finance.  And while there has been a small increase since COP26, funding remains far below what is needed to secure and protect Indigenous peoples territories.

Furthermore, Indigenous peoples are under constant threat from multi-national industries, who both criminalise them and cut down the rainforests and their home.

What do rainforest leaders say is needed to end the climate crisis?

This week the rainforest leaders sent a letter to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, to ask for a proportion of the UK’s International Climate Finance to be delivered as direct payments to Indigenous peoples.

The leaders also met with Ruth Davis OBE, Special Representative for Nature and Members of Parliament to encourage them to support Indigenous communities abroad who know how to fight climate change best.

“Healthy forests underpin climate stability, biodiversity, and are the backbone of supply chains that connect our territories to homes in the UK,” said Juan Carlos Jintiach, executive secretary of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC). “Supporting our work as guardians of these invaluable ecosystems is one of the most effective investments the world can make in a secure and resilient future.”

Notes to Editors

Interviews available on request with rainforest leaders and Cool Earth campaigners. Please contact: [email protected], 07766934285.

NOTE: Footage and photo credit: Cool Earth/Elm Media/James Riley 

• One of the largest independent climate conferences, London Climate Action Week draws politicians, activists, business leaders, and environmental coalitions to set agendas ahead of the UN General Assembly and COP conferences.

• The protest was supported by Cool Earth, the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, and NGO Forest Coalition.
• The world has seen 1.4 million hectares of tree cover loss between 2001 and 2020 linked to in the Amazon.
• Despite the UK feeling the ever-growing threat of climate change – from the record May temperatures seen last month to reports of heightened risks of building collapse – Britain will be cutting its support to fight climate change abroad. The UK International Climate Finance commitment will effectively fall to around £6 billion (distributed over the next three years) from £11.6 billion under the previous spending period.