Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 36 to 42. World leaders love to present trees as the answer to our climate change woes. Earth has room for another 0.9 billion hectares of them, which could buy us an extra 20 years to decarbonise our societies by locking up emitted carbon. But many countries are terrible at even holding onto their existing carbon-rich trees. However, this problem isn’t ...

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 36 to 42.

World leaders love to present trees as the answer to our climate change woes. Earth has room for another 0.9 billion hectares of them, which could buy us an extra 20 years to decarbonise our societies by locking up emitted carbon. But many countries are terrible at even holding onto their existing carbon-rich trees. However, this problem isn’t caused solely by lower-income countries, as a recent study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution made clear by linking deforestation to international trade. High-income countries, like the UK, Japan and Germany, are driving deforestation abroad with their demand for beef, soya, palm oil and other goods. Last year’s increase in tree cover loss, which includes deforestation as well as natural losses, such as through fire, is especially galling because 2020 was the deadline a host of countries and businesses set for halving deforestation from 2014 levels. The timing also poses a headache for the United Nations and those hoping for a good outcome at this year’s COP26 climate summit in November. Alarming deforestation trends in Brazil under President Jair Bolsonaro saw Norway and Germany halt funds to Brazil for protecting the Amazon rain forest in 2019. The situation is no better today, with Brazil losing 1.7 million hectares in 2020, three times that of the country with the next biggest losses, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Moreover, Brazil’s increase in loss was more than twice the global average, at 25 per cent. Boosting climate aid to Brazil in that context poses a tricky conundrum for high income countries. These rates of tree cover loss have a huge climate impact. Mikaela Weisse at the WRI and her colleagues estimate last year’s loss released about 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, roughly on a par with India, the world’s fourth biggest emitter. Continuing with such colossal emissions will wipe out the amount of CO2 that tree planting is expected to absorb. It is time for world leaders to get a grip. If we are to stand any chance of meeting the world’s climate goals, governments must take deforestation as seriously as they do transforming their energy systems. Politics can make stopping deforestation hard. The European Commission and UK government are considering using trade deals and regulations to apply pressure on countries such as Brazil to curb deforestation. However, this may not be viewed well by Brazil. Globally, there is hope. Forest loss fell in Indonesia and Malaysia last year – signs that government policies to curb deforestation can work. (Adapted from newscientist.com)

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