Stoltenberg speaks at rainforest meeting in London

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. Photo by Berit Hessen.

On April 1 Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg spoke about the future of rainforests at St. James’s Palace in London. Prince Charles of Wales was hosting the talks on the importance of rainforests in the struggle against global warming.

The meeting took place just before many of the world leaders were due to attend a reception at Buckingham Palace during the G20 summit.

At the meeting Stoltenberg said: “Norway wants to do its share. We are working with Brazil in the Amazon. We are cooperating with the UK and others in the Congo Basin. And we are working with the UN and the World Bank in other parts of the world.”

“We have made a commitment to allocate up to 500 million US dollar annually to this end. And we have already started the implementation,” explained Norway’s Prime Minister.

“Deforestation must be included in a new global climate agreement. Only then will we have the predictability needed for protecting the world’s tropical forests, stressed Stoltenberg to the world leaders.

Participating in the meeting were UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, European Commission Preisdent José Manuel Barroso, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yodoyono, German Federal Chancellor Agnela Markel, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

“There is broad agreement that we swiftly and forcefully need to intensify the fight to save the world’s remaining tropical forests,” said Stoltenberg after the meeting.

“This is very gratifying, quite in line with Norway’s policy and an important input in the process leading up to the climate summit in Copenhagen in December this year,” Stoltenberg concluded.

Source: Regjeringen.