SHARM EL-SHEIKH: More than 25 countries at the COP27 climate talks on Monday launched a group they said would ensure they hold each other accountable for a pledge to end deforestation by 2030, and announced billions of dollars to finance their efforts.

The first meeting of the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership, chaired by Ghana and the United States, takes place a year after more than 140 leaders promised at COP26 in Britain to end deforestation by the end of the decade.

Progress since has been patchy, with only a few countries instituting more aggressive policies on deforestation and financing.

The new group — which includes Japan, Pakistan, the Republic of Congo, the United Kingdom and others — accounts for roughly 35% of the world’s forests and aims to meet twice a year to track progress.

Notable omissions from the group are Brazil with its Amazon rainforest and the Democratic Republic of Congo whose vast forests are home to endangered wildlife including gorillas.

“This partnership is a critical next step to collectively deliver on this promise and help keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C alive,” Britain’s Alok Sharma, who presided over last year’s COP talks, said in a statement.

The statements said that around 22% of the $12 billion in public money pledged for forests by 2025, funds committed in Glasgow, had so far been disbursed.

Among the new sources of financing, Germany said it would double its financing for forests to 2 billion euros ($1.97 billion) through 2025.

Private cash piles up

Private companies announced $3.6 billion in extra money. They include investment firm SouthBridge Group, creating a $2 billion fund for restoration efforts in Africa, the region with the most tropical rainforest after South America.

Volkswagen Group and H&M Group signed up to a separate initiative, The LEAF Coalition, launched at COP26, in which governments and companies pay countries with tropical and subtropical forests for emissions reductions.

Ecuador also becomes the first country to sign a memorandum of agreement with Emergent, coordinator of the coalition, that aims to see a binding Emissions Reduction Payment Agreement signed by the end of April 2023.

South Korea also agreed to be the first Asian government to provide finance for the coalition, joining founders Britain, Norway and the United States.

“The need is urgent – for the climate, for biodiversity and the people that depend on forests,” Emergent Chief Executive Eron Bloomgarden said.

Other initiatives towards meeting the 2030 forest pledge also announced incremental progress at the opening of COP27.

A coalition of 25 governments and charities said that 19% of $1.7 billion promised to indigenous communities to promote land rights and forest protection had been paid out.

But despite a promise to pay most of the money directly to local communities, roughly half of the funds were routed through international nongovernmental organisations. Only 7% of went to community-led groups, which the coalition said needs to be corrected.

A separate initiative by investors to push companies to eliminate deforestation by 2025 said that Swiss asset manager GAM Investments, UK pension manager London CIV, SouthBridge and Banco Estado de Chile had all joined the alliance.

In September, the initiative announced standards that companies should follow to trace commodities and disclose links to deforestation.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 7 (DNA): Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Prof Ahsan Iqbal on Monday directed the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) to send a fresh summary to the Council of Common Interest and Prime Minister Office with a fresh timeline over the 7th Digital Census 2022.

He made these directions while chairing a meeting to review progress on the 7th Digital Census 2022. The meeting was attended by the Secretary Planning Commission, Chief PBS, Chairman National Database and Registration Authority (NDRA) and other officials.   

During the meeting, the minister was apprised about the so far progress on the Census. PBS chief informed the minister that earlier, a summary was submitted after agreement with NADRA for conduct of census w.e.f 15th October 2022 to 15th November 2022.

However, due to delay in opening of  letter of credit due to prevailing economic situation, NADRA was unable to provide tablets and informed that complete 126,000 tablets would be handed over in installments by December 2022 and census ERP(complete software solutions) by 15th October 2022 for testing.

Keeping in view the sensitivity of matter, PBS adjusted the training of master trainers and training of trainers at divisional level in November and December 2022.

However, as training at tehsil level for 120,000 field staff and field work could be initiated before the complete handover of tablets, therefore, after all considerations and running activities in parallel, the timelines had been revised and now the field work would be conducted w.e.f 1st February 2023 to 4th March 2023 and results, after conduct of post enumeration survey, would be handed over to ECP by 30th April 2023 for delimitation purposes. 

However, the minister expressed concerns over the extension of the deadline and asked the PBS to urgently intimate the CCI and PM Office due to sensitivity of matter.

                                                                                                                                                                    He also emphasized that further delay could not be acceptable as the next elections would be based on this census.

The minister also directed PBS to ensure the quality of the training at tehsil level. He advised to include Higher Education Commission and academia to monitor the training at tehsils level as quality training was essential for credible and reliable data. He was of the view that assessment should be done by independent third body.

The PBS chief further informed the planning minister that so far NADRA had handed over 22,000 tables for the census which had been hardened and now ready to dispatch, and the remaining would be handed over soon. He apprised that 21,600 more tablets would reach PBS today [Monday] and would be in hardening process soon.

It was further informed that training of the master trainers would be started from November 28 to December 10, 2022, while self-enumerator would be started from January 15, 2023. The minister directed to expedite the process and strictly adhere to the revised timelines, keeping in view the sensitivity of matter.

Washington, Nov 7: Democrats and Republicans traded final blows Monday ahead of midterm elections that could upend Joe Biden’s presidency, weaken Western support for Ukraine and even open the door to a comeback attempt by Donald Trump.

More than 40 million ballots have been cast through early voting options, meaning the fate of the world’s biggest economy was already in play, with hours to go before polls open nationwide Tuesday.

Adding to tensions — and a reminder of the international stakes — Kremlin-connected oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin boasted that Russia was trying to tilt the outcome.

“We interfered, we are interfering and we will interfere… carefully, precisely, surgically and the way we do it, the way we can,” said Prigozhin, a pivotal figure in the Ukraine invasion where his Wagner military contractor group is on the front lines.

Biden, who has framed his closing argument as a warning that American democracy is on the line, was set to close out days of frantic campaigning for Democratic candidates at a rally Monday evening near Baltimore.

Trump, who is using the midterms to repeatedly tease a possible 2024 White House run, was holding a rally in Ohio.

With polls showing Republicans in line to seize the House of Representatives, the increasingly far-right party eyed snarling the rest of Biden’s first term in aggressive investigations and opposition to spending plans.

Kevin McCarthy, who would likely become speaker of the House — placing him second in line to the president — also refused to rule out impeachment proceedings.

“We will never use impeachment for political purposes,” McCarthy told CNN. “That doesn’t mean if something rises to the occasion, it would not be used at any other time.”

One key question remained whether the US Senate would also flip, leaving Biden as little more than a lame duck.

With Congress out of Democrats’ hands, Biden would see his legislative agenda collapse.

That would raise questions over everything from climate crisis policies, which the president will be laying out at the Cop27 conference in Egypt this week, to Ukraine, where Republicans are reluctant to maintain the current rate of US financial and military support.

While insisting he supports Ukraine’s struggle, McCarthy told CNN that there could be no “blank check” — a nod to the isolationist, far-right Trump wing of his party and a signal likely sending shivers through Kyiv.

  Just how bad Tuesday goes will also likely determine whether Biden, who turns 80 this month and is the oldest president ever, will seek a second term or step aside, plunging his party into fresh uncertainty.