How to save our forests before it is too late

This week, a worrying study was published which demonstrates that increases in CO2 emissions lead to trees growing faster and therefore also having shorter lifespans.

Last year, the world was given the impression that if we plant enough trees, we can greatly use natural means to curb climate change. What followed were forest fires across the globe due to increased sensitivity as a result of the 1 degree of global warming which has now already happened since the Industrial Revolution.

The study which has been published now threatens the hope that we can actually depend on trees to offset our emissions as we had hoped, because the end result of their shorter lifespans is that they can no longer act as carbon sinks in the same way we had hoped. As more studies are done and as more data is collected, the extent of the climate emergency grows clearer with every passing day, and our situation becomes more desperate. The time for action is long overdue.

The question becomes, what can little Malta do to make a difference? Our CO2 emissions are insignificant in the greater scheme of things. However, that should not be an argument for complacency. First of all, Malta has its diplomatic clout and pressure. In August of last year, Partit Demokratiku spoke out when wildfires were started intentionally across Brazil, in an attempt to clear land for unsustainable agriculture and cattle ranching. Partit Demokratiku called for Malta to join France and Ireland in threatening to boycott the EU-MERCOSUR trade-deal. Malta is able to wield a great deal of influence and punch above its weight on the level of EU politics, where Malta's consent is necessary. The idea was that Brazil's trade would be harmed unless it truly commits to meet its Paris Climate Accord targets. The Amazon is being destroyed under the Presidency of Jair Bolsonaro for economic reasons. Therefore, Malta is able to punch above its weight by making it less profitable to destroy the Amazon.

On the level of the European Union, through our MEPs and our influence on every level, we should be fighting to put systems in place that will lead to green procurement. Green procurement both locally and in Europe would mean that governments only buy sustainable products and favour that which is environmentally friendly at every stage of economic planning.

We must do whatever it takes to save the Amazon and also the forests of Indonesia and Africa from deforestation. If we do not, then the Amazon will soon reach a tipping point where it will dry up and we will lose all of it. What good is it pouring trillions of euros into a Green New Deal, if all our work is in vain due to us closing a blind eye to destruction elsewhere? We must ban the import of products which are created from deforestation, making it less profitable to destroy our forests. This is the role Malta can play on the world stage to save our country and the world.

The question becomes, what can little Malta do to make a difference? Our CO2 emissions are insignificant in the greater scheme of things. However, that should not be an argument for complacency. First of all, Malta has its diplomatic clout and pressure.

Mark Zerafa is Secretary General of Partit Demokratiku.