IPU, Alm.del - 2022-23 (2. samling) - Bilag 6: Erklæringer og resolutioner vedtaget under IPU-sessionen i Bahrain

Dansk Interparlamentarisk Gruppes bestyrelse 2022-23 (2. samling)
IPU Alm.del Bilag 6
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146th IPU Assembly

Manama (11–15 March 2023)

Parliamentary efforts in achieving negative

carbon emission balances of forests

Resolution adopted by consensus

by the 146th IPU Assembly

(Manama, 15 March 2023)

The 146th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Recalling

the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and

the 2015 Paris Agreement, including its goal to hold the increase in the global average temperature to

well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C

above pre-industrial levels, and in particular its Article 5, which calls on the Parties to the Agreement to

take action to conserve and enhance sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases, including forests, and

encourages them to develop policy approaches to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest

degradation, to set positive incentives for sustainable management of forests, and to enhance carbon

sequestration and reduce emissions in forests,

Mindful of

the outcomes of the United Nations Climate Change Conferences in Glasgow

(COP26) and Sharm el-Sheikh (COP27) and

taking note

of the forest-relevant contribution of the

Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use,

in which more than 140 countries committed to

working collectively to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 while delivering

sustainable development and promoting inclusive rural transformation and value chains, and in which

they reaffirmed international financial commitments, private finance and investment support to enable

forest conservation and restoration, and support for indigenous peoples and local communities, as well

as the findings of the IPCC Working Group III on mitigation and its recommendations on reducing

deforestation and increasing reforestation,

Welcoming

the

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

adopted in

December 2022 and its 4 goals and 23 targets, including target 2, which seeks to “ensure that by 2030 at

least 30% of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine ecosystems are under

effective restoration, in order to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, ecological

integrity and connectivity”,

Looking forward

to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai (COP28),

which will follow up on the COP26 and COP27 climate conferences’ outcomes regarding forest

protection,

Recalling

the IPU resolutions

Climate change, sustainable development models, and

renewable energies

(120th IPU Assembly, Addis Ababa, April 2009),

Addressing climate change

(141

IPU Assembly, Belgrade, October 2019),

Parliamentary strategies to strengthen peace and

security against threats and conflicts resulting from climate-related disasters and their consequences

(142nd IPU Assembly, virtual session, May 2021), the Nusa Dua Declaration

Getting to zero: Mobilizing

parliaments to act on climate change

(144th IPU Assembly, Nusa Dua, March 2022), and the Declaration

of the President of the Assembly on climate change (116th IPU Assembly, Nusa Dua, May 2007),

The delegation of India expressed reservations on preambular paragraphs 2, 5 and 8, and on operative

paragraphs 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17 and 21.

The delegation of the Russian Federation expressed reservations on preambular paragraph 19.

#IPU146

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Guided by

the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which emphasize that climate policy, poverty reduction and

universal peace are all inextricably linked in achieving sustainable development, in particular SDG 15

to “protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage

forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss” and

SDG 13 to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”, as well as SDG 17 to

“strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable

development”,

Committed

to the implementation of the

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity

Framework

adopted by the 15th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in

December 2022, in particular of target 2 to restore at least 30% of areas of degraded ecosystems by

2030 and of target 3 to ensure that by 2030 at least 30% of terrestrial, inland water, coastal and

marine areas are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative,

well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based

conservation measures,

Reaffirming

United Nations General Assembly resolution 76/300 recognizing the right to a

clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right, resolution 71/285, in which the

United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030

was adopted, and resolution 73/284 on the

United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030),

Committed to

the realization of the shared vision set out in the

United Nations Strategic

Plan for Forests 2017–2030

“of a world in which all types of forests and trees outside forests are

sustainably managed, contribute to sustainable development and provide economic, social,

environmental and cultural benefits for present and future generations”,

Reaffirming

the importance of the six goals defined in the

United Nations Strategic Plan

for Forests 2017–2030,

and especially goal 1 to “reverse the loss of forest cover worldwide through

sustainable forest management, including protection, restoration, afforestation and reforestation,

and increase efforts to prevent forest degradation and contribute to the global effort of addressing

climate change”, which would, among other benefits, serve the achievement of SDG targets 6.6 to

“protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including […] forests”, 12.2 to “achieve the sustainable

management and efficient use of natural resources”, 15.1 to “ensure the conservation, restoration and

sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular

forests”, and especially 15.2 to “promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of

forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and substantially increase afforestation and

reforestation globally”,

Emphasizing

target 1.2 of goal 1 of the

United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests

2017-2030,

which calls for “the world’s forest carbon stocks [to be] maintained or enhanced”,

Endorsing

goal 2 of the

United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030,

“enhance forest-based economic, social and environmental benefits, including by improving the

livelihoods of forest-dependent people”, especially its target 2.2 to “increase the access of small-scale

forest enterprises, in particular in developing countries, to financial services, including affordable

credit, and their integration into value chains and markets” and target 2.3, which calls for

“the contribution of forests and trees to food security [to be] significantly increased”,

Welcoming

the international community’s continuing engagement in numerous global

initiatives to address the contribution of forests to climate protection, including the Forests and Climate

Leaders’ Partnership; the Congo Basin Forest Partnership; the 15th World Forestry Congress held in

Seoul in May 2022; the ASEAN Green Initiative to ramp up restoration efforts and plant at least

10 million native trees in the next 10 years across the 10 ASEAN Member States starting from 2021,

and to set standards for the recognition of tree planting activities and programmes across the region

that not only regrow forests in the region but also contribute to people's well-being, livelihood

improvement, and resilience-building; the Bonn Challenge, a global goal to bring 150 million hectares

of degraded and deforested landscapes into restoration by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030; the

World Economic Forum’s global initiative to conserve, restore and grow 1 trillion trees by 2030; the

Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative; and the

Strategic Plan of Action for ASEAN

Cooperation on Forestry;

and

recognizing

that all of these initiatives have contributed to States’

affirmation of forest protection and emission reduction targets, and have showcased the many

opportunities for prevention, mitigation, resilience-building and adaptation through the contributions of

national governments, provinces, cities and villages, private corporations, financial institutions and civil

society,

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Recognizing

the crucial role that women and youth play in forest ecosystem conservation

and restoration, and stressing the need for the full participation of women and youth at all levels of

policymaking and implementation in forest ecosystem conservation and restoration,

Noting

that forests are resources of global significance, covering 31% of the Earth’s land

surface, but storing almost half of terrestrial carbon; that forests help to regulate regional climate by

influencing rainfall patterns and cooling urban areas; that trees and forests regulate the water balance,

serve as drinking-water reservoirs and protect against erosion, landslide, rockfalls, avalanches, floods,

desertification, land degradation and food insecurity; that sustainably managed forests deliver natural,

climate-neutral resources for various value chains; and that well-managed forests provide

subsistence, medicines, recreational and cultural purpose, livelihoods, employment and income to

forest-dwelling communities, forest-dependent people and Indigenous people, and act as a natural

buffer against the transmission of zoonoses,

Gravely concerned about

the loss, through deforestation, of 420 million hectares of

forests between 1990 and 2020, equivalent to approximately 10.34% of the world’s total forest area in

the last 30 years, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations report

The

State of the World’s Forests 2022,

with associated damage as manifested in droughts, desertification,

and changes to weather patterns, as well as about the severe impact of forest loss on aspects of

human life and on human development, and the fact that deforestation has a multiplying effect on

existing crises in many respects and aspects,

Noting with great concern

that deforestation and forest degradation are having an

accelerating severe impact on climate change, with destruction and degradation of forests, including

their soils, accounting for around 15% of global human-induced carbon release on Earth,

Cognizant

of the detrimental impact of armed conflicts on forest ecosystems and the

contribution of such conflicts to greenhouse gas emissions,

Regretting

that the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the largest conflict

currently in existence, accompanied by massive forest fires and resulting in at least 33 million tonnes

of CO

equivalent emissions, has significantly undermined global efforts to achieve negative carbon

emission balances of forests and to combat climate change,

Aware

that the progression of deforestation and forest degradation is one of the main root

causes of increasing biodiversity loss and loss of genetic resources, as forests provide habitat for

80% of amphibian species, 75% of bird species and 68% of mammal species; and that tropical forests

are particularly important as they contain about 50% of all animal and plant species,

Underlining

the concrete and existential threat to food security and agriculture caused by

deforestation and forest degradation, with forest destruction having massive regional impacts on

rainfall and consequently on rainfed agriculture, particularly in the Amazon and the African tropics,

Recalling

paragraphs 47 and 48 of the

Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan

adopted at

COP27 in November 2022 pertaining to the provision of adequate and predictable support to

developing-country Parties, in the context of which Parties should collectively aim to slow, halt and

reverse forest cover and carbon loss, in accordance with national circumstances, consistently with the

ultimate objective of the UNFCCC, while ensuring relevant social and environmental safeguards,

Expressing deep concern

about the severe damage caused by forest loss to societies

and economies, with an estimated 1.6 billion people, or 20% of the global population, depending on

forests for subsistence, livelihoods, employment and income generation, according to the

United

Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2017–2030,

Urges

IPU Member Parliaments to provide, in line with their parliamentary tasks, national

regulations and laws that commit to the objective of net zero deforestation, meaning that

when forests or trees are cleared in one area, reforestation or afforestation is ensured in

another area as appropriate, seeking to maintain the same CO

storage balance and

taking account of the time that different varieties of tree take to grow;

Calls on

IPU Member Parliaments and their governments to intensify urgent actions to

prevent and halt deforestation and forest degradation, increase forest areas and enhance

the resilience of forest ecosystems, which are among the most cost-effective actions for

mitigating and adapting to climate change, while stressing that reducing deforestation to a

minimum and encouraging climate-focused afforestation avoid the direct emissions from

lost biomass and enable conservation and enhancement of the greenhouse gas

absorbing and capturing capacity of forests;

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Urges

IPU Member Parliaments and their governments to: expand existing protected

areas and create new ones to protect forest ecosystems in line with the relevant

international commitments; guarantee demilitarization of protected areas, especially in

times of war; establish an appropriate legislative framework for the management of

protected areas and take effective measures to enforce it; and cooperate, where

appropriate, with neighbouring States to ensure better management and functioning of

protected areas;

Urges

IPU Member Parliaments to ramp up efforts to reforest and even restore degraded

forests in the light of national circumstances, keeping in mind: that forest restoration is an

active attempt to return an area to its previous naturally forested state using native trees;

that non-native trees provide timber that can boost local economies and reduce logging

pressure in native forests; that reforestation, afforestation and agroforestry using native

and/or non-native trees help diversify livelihoods and landscapes to increase land

productivity; that afforestation and restoration of forests can provide significant

environmental, climatic, sociocultural and economic benefits; and that trees provide

shade on agricultural land, prevent extreme sun exposure for the soil and cultivated

plants, cool down temperatures on the ground, influence precipitation and lead to

improved harvest results;

Calls on

IPU Member Parliaments to promote more productive, efficient and sustainable

agrifood systems by continuing to use existing arable land to reduce the demand for new

agricultural land, maintain forests and secure the multiple benefits that forests provide to

farming systems, keeping in mind that agricultural expansion is driving almost 90% of

global deforestation, that many areas of arable land are not being utilized as efficiently

and productively as possible, and that sustainably increasing productivity will reduce the

pressure on forestland caused by a 35–56% increase in food demand by 2050 due to the

projected growth in the global population to 9.7 billion people;

Encourages

IPU Member Parliaments to take immediate action to ensure that sustainable

forest management is more beneficial to generating income than deforestation and that

such incomes are regular and high enough for people to sustain a living and compete

with income derived from other land uses, while emphasizing that sustainable forest

management and green value chains prevent the conversion of forest into agricultural

land and support the transition to carbon-neutral economies, and that responsible forest

management can counteract the underlying drivers of deforestation including poverty,

unsustainable production practices and consumption patterns, and can enhance the

adaptability and resilience of forests to the impact of climate change while creating green

jobs, especially in developing countries;

Recommends

that IPU Member Parliaments create shared value from collective efforts

through experience-sharing and technological transfer to promote the following:

application of the principles of the circular economy in the use of wood; reforestation to

expand the use of sustainable wood; substituting non-renewable or emissions-intensive

materials, such as cement and concrete, in construction with sustainably grown wood

products; increasing the lifespan of wood products to address growing demand; reducing

waste through more efficient processing and the cascading use of forest products;

advancing green technology; changing consumption patterns; and facilitating a transition

to more circular and green economies;

Invites

IPU Member Parliaments to review and improve forest-related legislation,

strengthen forest law enforcement, and promote good governance at all levels in order to

support sustainable forest management, and to combat and eradicate illegal practices in

forest-related sectors;

Calls on

IPU Member Parliaments to: adopt strategies and a systematic review and

self-monitoring system that will allow governments to increase the value of the

conservation and restoration of forests, especially of rainforests and boreal forests;

emphasize the global value of the ecosystem services and natural resources of forests;

and highlight that national, regional or international emissions trading schemes, such as

the European Union Emissions Trading System or the Kyoto Protocol emissions trading

scheme, are beneficial instruments for mobilizing private capital to finance forest

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protection and afforestation, including the use of removal units on the basis of land use,

land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities such as reforestation, with an

emphasis on maintaining the highest environmental and climate integrity of such

schemes;

10.

Invites

IPU Member Parliaments to call on their governments to consider ecological fiscal

reforms, to introduce policy initiatives to promote responsible consumption and

production of forest-related goods, and to repurpose agricultural subsidies to include

agroforestry and sustainable forestry, keeping in mind that policy instruments can be

used strategically to create market incentives for responsible and sustainable forest

management and to reorient incentives to boost green markets and financing;

Encourages

IPU Member Parliaments to ensure that the objective of net zero emissions

is incorporated in national economic, environmental and climate strategies, reaffirming

the goals agreed upon in the Paris Agreement to hold the increase in the global average

temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the

temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, largely through ambitious

efforts to: reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a minimum, and remove residual

emissions from the atmosphere by, inter alia, protecting and restoring natural sinks like

forests, soil and peatlands or through negative emission technologies such as direct air

capture, and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage;

Recommends

that IPU Member Parliaments: scale up action to phase down unabated

coal power and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, especially for lignite and coal,

which often require extensive logging; bear in mind the principle defined within the

UNFCCC, and reconfirmed in the Paris Agreement, of common but differentiated

responsibilities and respective capabilities in the light of different national circumstances;

and direct global development policy in supporting developing countries that plan to

construct coal-fired power plants to instead consider renewable energy power plants

allowing the same energy production while also protecting energy, job security, climate

and forests;

Calls on

IPU Member Parliaments to intensify efforts to reduce the use of charcoal as an

energy source and to promote sustainable, cost-effective, viable, renewable and

carbon-neutral alternatives such as solar, hydro, geothermal, wind and nuclear power,

bearing in mind the considerable forest loss and CO

emissions resulting from charcoal

being the major source of energy in many developing countries with limited access

to energy;

Urges

IPU Member Parliaments to: take into account the needs and knowledge of local

communities, including forest dwellers, forest-dependent people and Indigenous people,

as per national norms in sustainable forest management, which are integral to the fight

against climate change; acknowledge that indigenous peoples and local communities

have been sustainably managing forests for millennia, using practices based on

indigenous knowledge systems, enabling them to fulfil their needs without undermining

the capacity of the ecosystems and forests in which they live; reaffirm that land-tenure

rights for Indigenous peoples and local communities should be protected and enforced as

appropriate; and emphasize that forest restoration preserves the territories and resources

of indigenous people and lowers the pressure on declining forests in terms of firewood

extraction, illegal logging and charcoal production;

Also urges

IPU Member Parliaments to ensure that forest conservation practices and

other nature-based climate solutions promote and respect the inherent rights of

Indigenous people related to their traditional territories, including their right to be

consulted and accommodated when measures and actions might adversely impact them,

their lands or their resources;

Invites

IPU Member Parliaments to: take action to strengthen their common

understanding of forests, their sustainable management and climate protection, taking

into account national and regional conditions, including as a matter of intergenerational

equity and solidarity; engage the educational sector and local communities in

reforestation, through a multi-level strategy and multi-stakeholder approach, as a key to

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

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sustainable and inclusive economic growth; make sure that appropriate educational

programmes on forests are implemented and included in school curricula; promote

educational efforts with young people and include future generations in climate protection

measures so that they are aware of the need to protect forests and the environment and

the ways in which it can be done, keeping in mind that it is the children and young people

of today and tomorrow who will bear the consequences as climate change intensifies and

who thus wish to actively engage in efforts to address climate change; and ensure that

gender-sensitive approaches and tools are mainstreamed to provide men and women

with an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from sustainable forest

management while also ensuring the engagement of young people in forest-related

decision-making;

17.

Urges

IPU Member Parliaments to set up mechanisms for agricultural extension services

as intermediaries between researchers and farmers to explain the devastating effects of

deforestation, train local populations in good agricultural practices, encourage farmers to

adopt new, improved methods of farming, help farmers in their decision-making, and

ensure that appropriate knowledge is implemented to obtain the best results with regard

to sustainable production and rural development, while stressing the need for further

investment in agronomy in tropical areas so that inputs like seeds and nutrients as well as

training and access to markets can be provided;

Recommends

that IPU Member Parliaments use their legislative powers to support

incentives for local people and entrepreneurs in green economic employment and

investment, as well as to enhance the balance of economic development at all levels,

namely for individuals, families, communities and societies, and to pursue green growth

strategies and the benefits of the sharing economy by taking into consideration social,

cultural and environmental contexts for life-long learning, resilience and inclusive growth;

Requests

that IPU Member Parliaments allocate a sufficient national budget in terms of

investing in research and development for leveraging technology like cross-breeding of

trees that are high-performing, have fast-growing roots and possibly promote forest

rejuvenation and regeneration, and hence CO

storage capacity and climate resilience or

the diversification and combination of tree varieties in forest plantations, in order to take

advantage of the existing complementary characteristics of different species;

Encourages

IPU Member Parliaments to provide an appropriate national budget to ramp

up efforts to mobilize and invest in digital technologies and broadband services that

provide access for households in rural and remote areas to online information about

sustainable land use and forestry income opportunities, bearing in mind the importance of

creating awareness about the need for sustainable forest management;

Strongly urges

IPU Member Parliaments to maintain peaceful relations among

themselves, to respect State sovereignty and State territory,

and

to take concerted and

united action, despite political, economic and social differences, to bring a rapid end to

wars of aggression around the world, bearing in mind that violent conflicts and wars, as

well as mines, may lead to the destruction and contamination of ecosystems such as

forests that are important not only for the people living in them but also for humankind as

a whole;

Urges

IPU Member Parliaments to foster enhanced coherence, collaboration and

synergies among themselves and with national and international bodies and partners in

working towards the common goals set out in this resolution, and to facilitate enhanced

support and partnerships, including in terms of financial resources, technology transfer

and capacity-building, in order to assist developing countries in promoting forest

ecosystems, sustainable afforestation and agroforestry, as well as people’s well-being;

Requests

that the IPU Secretary General transmit the present resolution to IPU Member

Parliaments, the United Nations Secretary-General and all relevant institutions;

Encourages

IPU Member Parliaments to take suitable measures as per national

circumstances to achieve the implementation of this resolution.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.