US under Trump is sole opponent of UN anti- Deforestation measures
The U.S. was the sole nation voting against a United Nations resolution for more sustainable forests globally and fighting deforestation and joined Russia, North Korea and Belarus in opposing another UN resolution condemning Moscow for its war in Ukraine.
In addition, Recently, The Trump administration moved to undo environmental protections surrounding future logging on over half of U.S. national forests under an emergency declaration issued that invokes threats from wildfires.
The UN endorsed a ten-year international reforestation and sustainable forest initiative from 2027 to 2036, with a vote of 155 to 1, the only opposition coming from the Trump administration’s U.S. mission.
The resolution cites international issues of deforestation and urges nations and regions to undertake sustainable forest management. The world loses up to 24.7 million acres of forest every year, the UN states. Nations supporting the measure indicated sustainable forests and forest protection are essential to averting climate change.
The U.S. objected on grounds of international agreements and sovereignty and Paris Climate Accords that Trump is withdrawing from with this White House return. Trump’s U.S. mission at the UN has been against international efforts it believes are “soft global governance” such as on popular initiatives like deforestation, which have been an issue in the Amazon rainforest, especially.
The United States will no longer automatically reaffirm them,” a U.S. UN representative said. Trump’s UN mission has also been critical of the organisation’s liking for international days, years and decades.
The UN General Assembly voted 105 votes to 9 with 33 abstentions on motions calling for the enhancement of relations to the Council of Europe human rights body to develop stronger international relationships in connection with the fight against human trafficking and ill-treatment of migrants. Russia protests language in the resolution against its aggression against Ukraine.
Russia occupied Ukraine in 2022 following the occupation of Crimea in 2014.
The U.S. which had already voted with Russia against other Ukraine war resolutions at the UN invoked concerns over the resolution such as the necessity to stem migrations and its priority has been to bring an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine. On Friday, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. would pull away from peace talks if progress is not immediately observed.
Ukraine has committed to a 30-day ceasefire but Russian President Vladimir Putin has not. Trump has expressed fraternity with Putin but has been more critical of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
