Deforestation pledge too late for part of Amazon

While world leaders sealed commitments on Tuesday to end deforestation by the end of the decade, the declaration comes too late for swathes of the Amazon rainforest.

British broadcaster Sky showed how huge areas of the jungle in Para state have been illegally logged to the brink of destruction.

The trees are burned, releasing the carbon stored within the forests, to weaken them before they are cut down, tearing apart ecosystems and reducing the Amazon's ability to act as a carbon sink.

An announcement came from the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, on Tuesday that more than 100 countries, had agreed to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030.

The UK said it has received the pledges from leaders representing more than 85% of the world’s forests.

Observers said fulfilling the pledge will be critical to limiting climate change, but many noted that such grand promises have been made before - to little effect.

Forests are important ecosystems and provide a critical way of absorbing carbon dioxide - the main greenhouse gas - from the atmosphere.

But the value of wood as a commodity and the growing demand for agricultural and pastoral land are leading to widespread and often illegal felling of forests, particularly in developing countries.

Brazil was among the countries joining the commitment at COP, but last month had gone further by saying it would end the illegal practice by 2028.

The government has been eager to project itself as a responsible environmental steward in the wake of surging deforestation and fires in the Amazon and Pantanal wetlands that have sparked global outrage.

Critics caution that its promises should be viewed with skepticism, and the country's president, Jair Bolsonaro, is an outspoken proponent of developing the Amazon.

Before Bolsonaro took office, the Brazilian Amazon hadn't recorded a single year with more than 10,000 square kilometers (3,861 square miles) of deforestation in over a decade.

It surpassed that level in each of Bolsonaro's first two years, and final data for the reference period between August 2020 and July 2021 may confirm a third year.