World leaders on November 2 issued a multibillion-dollar pledge to end deforestation by 2030, a promise met with scepticism by environmental groups who say more urgent action is needed to save the planet’s lungs.

According to summit hosts the British government, the pledge is backed by almost $20 billion in public and private funding and is endorsed by more than 100 leaders representing over 85 per cent of the world’s forests, including the Amazon rainforest, Canada’s northern boreal forest and the Congo Basin rainforest.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the agreement on deforestation was pivotal to the overarching goal of limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius – the most ambitious Paris Agreement target.

“Climate change and biodiversity are two sides of the same coin,” Johnson said on November 2. “We can’t deal with the devastating loss of habitat and species without tackling climate change and we can’t tackle climate change without protecting our natural environment and respecting the rights of indigenous people.”

“So protecting our forests is not only the right course of action to tackle climate change, but the right course for a more prosperous future for us all,” he said.

Signatories include Brazil and Russia, which have been singled out for accelerating deforestation in their territories, as well as the US, China, Australia and France.

The forests pact was the first of two anticipated announcements in Glasgow on November 2, with governments set to unveil a global agreement to reduce emissions of methane by 30 per cent this decade.