COP26 LIVE: Joe Biden and Leonardo DiCaprio 'meet at COP' | Squinty Bridge reopened after protest | Ocean Rebellion protest at Ineos Grangemouth |
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Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and other leaders are all in attendance and last night saw the first major deal come to light.
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who is also a climate activist, has also been spotted at the conference.
Follow along here for all updates relating to COP26 on Tuesday.
COP26 LIVE: Joe Biden and Leonardo DiCaprio ‘meet at COP’ | Squinty Bridge reopened after protest | Ocean Rebellion protest at Ineos Grangemouth |
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has pledged 2 billion dollars (£1.47 billion) for land restoration in Africa
The billionaire announced the funding, paid as part of the Bezos Earth Fund, at a COP26 event with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Mr Bezos previously indicated the investment would be 1 billion dollars (£732 million) at an event with the Prince of Wales on Monday.
“We must conserve what we still have, we must restore what we’ve lost and we must grow what we need to live without degrading the planet for future generations to come,” he said.
“Two thirds of the land in Africa is degraded, but this can be reversed.
“Restoration can improve soil fertility, raise yields and improve food security, make water more reliable, create jobs and boost economic growth, while also sequestering carbon.”
US President Joe Biden said forests had the potential to reduce carbon globally by more than a third
Speaking at the Cop26 event on forests and land use, he said: “So we need to approach this issue with the same seriousness of process as decarbonising our economy,” pointing to work in the US, where he had set the goal to conserve at least 30 per cent of all US land and waters by 2030.
He announced a new plan to conserve global forests “which will bring together the full range of US government tools, diplomatic, financial and policy to halt forest loss, restore critical carbon sinks and improve land management”.
Mr Biden said the “first of its kind” plan would work with Congress to mobilise up to 9 billion US dollars through to 2030 to conserve and restore forests and mobilise billions more through partners.
“We’re going to work to ensure markets recognise the true economic value of natural carbon sinks and motivate governments, landowners and stakeholders to prioritise conservation,” adding there would be work to ensure sustainable supply chains.
“The United States is going to lead by our example at home and support other forested nations and developing countries in setting and achieving ambitious action to conserve and restore these carbon sinks.
“I’m confident we can do this. All we need to do is summon the will to do what we know is right.”
Annie Lennox and Iain Glen lend their voices to BBC Scotland landscape film which will be broadcast tonight
Singer-Songwriter Annie Lennox and Game of Thrones actor Iain Glen will narrate BBC Scotland’s Changing Landscapes: A Story of Scotland, which is due to air at 10.35pm on Tuesday on BBC one.
The film was commissioned as part of BBC Scotland’s COP26 related programming and will tell the story, in music, words and moving images, of the care - and carelessness - humans have brought to bear on Scotland’s landscapes.
It features archive footage of rural and urban scenes around Scotland stretching back over a century.
Annie Lennox said: “I’m honoured to take part in this beautiful film offering a unique perspective of Scotland and its ancient landscapes at this crucial point in time, when the sustainability of our precious planet for future generations is being called to question.”
Iain Glen added: “I was very happy to be asked to read on Changing Landscapes. It deals with the most pressing issue of our time. How we all can better look after the beautiful planet Earth.”
Environment Secretary George Eustice has apologised to Israeli government minister Karine Elharrar
Environment Secretary George Eustice has apologised to Israeli government minister Karine Elharrar after she was unable to attend the opening day of the Cop26 conference due to a lack of wheelchair accessibility.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We deeply regret that incident.
“What would normally happen in this situation is that Israel would have communicated that they had that particular need for their minister.
“There was obviously something that went wrong in this instance and they weren’t aware of that and so they hadn’t made the right provisions at the particular entrance she was coming to.
“It’s deeply regrettable and we’ve apologised and I know James Cleverly, my colleague in Government, is going to be meeting her later.”
Environment Secretary George Eustice has apologised to Israeli government minister Karine Elharrar
Environment Secretary George Eustice has apologised to Israeli government minister Karine Elharrar after she was unable to attend the opening day of the Cop26 conference due to a lack of wheelchair accessibility.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We deeply regret that incident.
“What would normally happen in this situation is that Israel would have communicated that they had that particular need for their minister.
“There was obviously something that went wrong in this instance and they weren’t aware of that and so they hadn’t made the right provisions at the particular entrance she was coming to.
“It’s deeply regrettable and we’ve apologised and I know James Cleverly, my colleague in Government, is going to be meeting her later.”
Princes of Wales arrives at the Action of Forests and Land Use event
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said climate change and biodiversity loss were two sides of the same coin
Speaking at the Glasgow leaders’ declaration on forests and land use, Mr Johnson said: “We can’t deal with a devastating loss of habitats and species without tackling climate change, and we can’t deal with climate change without protecting our natural environment and respecting the rights of indigenous people who are its stewards.
“It’s central to the ambition of the UK’s Cop presidency that we act now and we end the role of humanity as nature’s conqueror and instead becomes nature’s custodian.
“We have to stop the devastating loss of our forests, these great teeming ecosystems, three trillion-pillared cathedrals of nature that are the lungs for our planet,” he urged.
He said 110 leaders had come together, representing over 85 per cent of the world’s forest estate had made “a landmark commitment to work together to halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030, not just halt but reverse.”
And he said: “What is most significant about this declaration is not just the range of countries coming together, but also that we’re working in partnership with the private sector, with philanthropists, with indigenous people in those communities to address the economic drivers of deforestation.”
Journey times and traffic jams on the rise in Glasgow since start of Cop26
Average journey times in the Scottish city at 4pm on Monday took 58 per cent longer compared with free-flow conditions, according to location technology firm TomTom.
That is up from 41 per cent during the same period in 2019.
About 25,000 delegates are attending the event at Glasgow’s SEC Centre.
Stephanie Leonard, head of traffic innovation and policy at TomTom, said the conference’s impact on traffic is “indicative of the city’s limited network capacity”.
She went on: “As many of the world’s leaders descend on Glasgow for the Cop26 summit, it is a timely reminder of the challenge at hand for these nations who seek to develop a mobility landscape that is free of congestion and emissions.
“Today’s congestion level figures illustrate how the convoys ferrying the 25,000-plus delegates around the city over the course of the summit are likely to contribute to significant traffic congestion, which is indelibly linked to an increase in carbon emissions.”
COP26: Who is Greta Thunberg? How old Thunberg is in 2021, her net worth - and is Thunberg vegan?
Greta Thunberg is one of the most famous faces at COP26, but who is the Swedish climate activist?
Swedish climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg arrived in Glasgow city centre for the United Nations’ climate summit on Saturday to join activists gathering in the COP26 host city from all over the world.
Leonardo DiCaprio makes appearance at Cop26
The Hollywood star, 46, was pictured at the conference surrounded by an entourage and wearing a blue suit featuring a colourful lapel pin.
He has worked on a number of documentaries about animal poaching and the environment, and was appointed a United Nations representative on climate change in 2014.
Kew Science, the research arm of Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, said he had visited its Carbon Garden space, where scientists will be highlighting the role plants can play in providing solutions to climate change across COP26.
DiCaprio, who describes himself as an actor and environmentalist on Instagram, updated his biography ahead of the event to include the hashtag #COP26.
Nicola Sturgeon revealed that she met US President Joe Biden last night, at an exclusive dinner reception held in Kelvingrove Art Museum and Gallery.
Sturgeon told the Daily Record: “I spoke to him briefly last night at Kelvingrove.
“I welcomed him to Scotland. We had a very brief conversation about the climate discussions that are underway here”.
She also confirmed that she spoke to “a large number of the leaders” in attendance
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio is currently at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, attending the COP26 climate summit.
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