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Climate Week Panel: Experts Discuss Benefits of TREES Act During Climate Week
NYC – Yesterday, local and global leaders gathered for a New York Climate Week panel event to discuss how New York can combat deforestation and the climate crisis through policy action and sustainable supply chains.
Experts discussed different means of combating deforestation, including enacting the TREES Act, which passed both the state’s legislative chambers earlier this year but awaits Governor Hochul’s signature.
The TREES Act will make sure that companies selling to New York government agencies do not buy products from companies that cut down tropical rainforests. It will also ensure that businesses providing goods or services to New York State do not contribute to the associated abuses of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in tropical forested regions.
FOOTAGE: Footage and photos of the panel can be viewed and downloaded here. Feel free to use this footage without attribution.
“We are living in a crisis in the environmental and social sphere, and this crisis is caused by the corporations. What we are living inside and outside the territories is due to the deforestation that we’re seeing, and the financing of that destruction by the system. Because of this we we are seeing great human rights damages within our territories.” – Dinamam Tuxá, The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (AIPB)
“This is the most substantial climate legislation awaiting action by the Governor and the most important pending deforestation measure we know of in the world. Will Governor Hochul lead New York and model the change our country must match to build a sustainable world? We know she can, and think she must.” – Vanessa Fajans-Turner, Executive Director, Environmental Advocates NY
“As investors we want to pick better companies to try to avoid our exposure to the risk that we're contributing to deforestation and degradation and human rights abuses through our investments. We look at companies and their disclosures and don’t invest in companies like JBS, for example, who have contributed to deforestation without accountability.” – Mary Beth Gallagher, Director of Engagement, Domini Impact Investments LLC
“Brazil is home to some of the world’s most important ecosystems, supporting global biodiversity and climate resilience. Due to rampant deforestation, these critical ecosystems may have already reached a tipping point, diminishing their ability to serve as globally significant carbon sinks.” – Marcel Gomes, Reporter Brasil & 2024 Goldman Prize Winner
"New Yorker's have consistently demonstrated, in polls and at the ballot box, across all regions of the state and all party lines, that they care about the environment and sustainability. They do not want their taxpayer dollars funding the destruction of tropical rainforests, driving the climate and biodiversity crises, and trampling the rights of workers and Indigenous Peoples around the world.” – Justin Flagg, Director of Environmental Policy for NY State Senator Liz Krueger, Sponsor of NY TREES Act
“I have spent the majority of my career working on deforestation and related issues both in field and policy roles. At the heart of all of this has been using maps to monitor both deforestation and identifying who is responsible for it. This is why I founded MapHubs, to create better mapping technology for forest monitoring, encourage transparent land use planning, and help curb deforestation across the globe.” – Leo Bottrill, Founder and CEO of MapHubs
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