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Statement given yesterday by President von der Leyen at the Forests and Climate Leaders' Partnership Summit.

Indeed, I am a medical doctor by training, so I know exactly what the function of lungs is. And there is a reason why we call our forests our lungs. And I know exactly that if your lungs do not function, you realise it in every fingertip. So if the lungs of our planet are not kept healthy or restored, the whole planet is suffering – everywhere on the planet. And therefore, it is of course in our common interest to restore these great lungs that we have on our planet.

And to focus on the Great Green Wall: Last year, at COP26, it was about pledging, about promises, about goals. This year is about implementation. So I just want to report about what we have done in that year. There are three points I want to look at. The first is funding. The second is trade. And the third is partnerships.

On funding: Last year, we promised to fund the Great Green Wall with more than EUR 700 million. We kept our promise. And this year, we are well on track to be able to fund the Great Green Wall, with even more than EUR 700 million. This is important because it should not only be a promise, the money should really be on the ground. We have a great project together for example in Senegal, where we are restoring 30,000 hectares of land. We think that it will create there round about 2,000 green jobs. And these are very practical examples for what we can do immediately to restore our green lungs.

The second is trade. And that is very important for me. Because us, as Europeans, we have to take responsibility for what the trade towards the European Union does. So if the trade that we are creating is triggering deforestation, it is our responsibility. And therefore, we have tabled a law that makes sure that we are no longer letting products that trigger deforestation because of their production enter the market. But this is only one side of the coin. Because the other side of the coin has to be the producer countries. We are the consumer region, but you cannot leave the producer region alone. Because as a replacement for the deforestation products, you have to engage in sustainable production, sustainable agriculture. So all the topics that you were indeed speaking about. Because we know that we need sustainable agricultural production and sustainable supply chains. That is so important. This is our second focus.

The third focus is partnerships. So in very practical terms, here tomorrow morning in Sharm el-Sheikh, we will be signing five sets of Forest Partnerships, three of them with African countries. It is Mongolia, Zambia, Congo, Uganda and Guyana, where we make sure that this Forest Partnership is there to protect the forests while growing the local economy. Because we see that traditionally in some regions around 90% of the wood they harvest is burnt for heating and cooking. This is not sustainable. And the return is absolutely not what we want.

But what we try to do with our Forest Partnerships is to focus on and to develop in these regions other economic activities that are paying off for the local economies. So for example, we are working on wood processing in Guyana or forest products like resin and honey in Uganda. Products that are sustainable and live of the forest. Or for example sustainable tourism in Zambia. These are very practical projects at which we are looking to really deliver on the ground and not only to have the headlines, but to really have the concrete action on the ground.

Last but not least, I am very happy that you are creating the Forests and Climate Leaders' Partnership. And I can confirm that we are proud and happy that the European Union is officially joining.

Thank you very much for inviting us to that.

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