Californian Assemblymember Ash Kalra has introduced a new bill tackling habitat destruction and deforestation.
The bill — entitled the California Deforestation-Free Procurement Act (AB-572) — is co-sponsored by Peace 4 Animals, Social Compassion in Legislation (SCIL), and Friends of the Earth.
If successful, AB 572 would require all contractors in the state who are sourcing products considered to be “forest-risk commodities” to certify that these products have not played a part in the destruction of tropical rainforests, or illegal land conversion. Contractors would “have to develop and maintain a No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation Policy (NDPE).”
The legislation will apply to products such as wood, paper, palm oil, soy, beef, leather, coffee, cocoa, rubber and more — all of which are produced in rapidly dwindling rainforest areas throughout the world. If passed, the new regulations would come into effect on January 1, 2021.
Bill AB-572 acknowledges that California — along with the entire planet — is at risk due to climate change, and notes that as the fifth-largest economy in the world, the state has the power to reduce deforestation significantly through its supply chains.
With earth’s rainforests now only covering seven percent of the planet’s surface, they still hold an astounding 50 percent of the earth’s species. A staggering 18,000,000 acres of tropical forests are being razed every year. If we can’t cease this destruction, the rainforests will be gone within 100 years, along with the thousands of species within them.
The importance of this piece of legislation should not be underestimated; it has the potential to save critically endangered animals such as orangutans, rhinos, elephants, and tigers — all at risk of extinction due to land clearing in Indonesia, primarily for the palm oil, paper, and pulp industries.
“When a species is wiped out, it’s forever,” says Katie Cleary, founder of Peace 4 Animals. “With this important bill, California has the chance to stop contributing to this global epidemic, encourage ethical purchasing, and help restore a healthier planet that includes the protection and preservation of our world’s most iconic animals.”
We commend the authors, co-authors, and co-sponsors of this crucial bill for their commitment to protecting tropical ecosystems, and will continue to follow the progress of AB-572 through the Senate.
What’s New…
We NEED our planet — we NEED our wild-life — we NEED all our animals who live in the wild — what more need be said — we MUST protect our eco-system — we MUST protect our natural world — we MUST protect our planet.
We need to do everything we can to protect animals.
we need the monkeys in the forest .not the deforestation for things we could care less about for some one to make big bucks thriving the economy into destruction.
Save the forest land New California. Sad picture ! Plese save the animals in the forest by No Deforestation.
Regarding Lions Disgusting ignorance, uneducated, why is that third world country allowed to do this, is there a government if so it ran by neandarphals, carpet bomb them
Firstly, Thank you assemblymember Ash Kalra, for introducing this new Bill AB-572. In fact Reforming the old stone age Bills/Laws has been long overdue, if you need to save & protect the Planet Earth & it’s amazing inhabitants this type of new laws must be introduced & implemented as well. .Human interference of deforestation poses greatest threats to the earthly growth & habitats disappearance at an alarming rate. Let this Bill pass through the Senate. so we all will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Please keep our animals safe
Please keep our animals safe
California should be a lesson on deforestation for the whole nation. Bravo California
Stop cruelty to animals stop testing and killing for finacial gain
About time. Humans are out of control.
Perfectly said.
Please save out precious animals and their land
animals need full protection from ruthless uncaring businesses as well as people.
We all must do our part to help save all animals, wilderness & wildlife.
Good job California. Keep up the good work and get that deforestation policy going so that way we can save millions of wild animals even if they’re endangered or not and restore their forests no matter what because just like The Lorax I speak for the trees and I would like to help protect the world since trees help absorb carbon dioxide and control our climate change. I appreciate this as much as well as you are continuing to protect the Wolves of North America AKA our gray wolves
Humans just need to stay out of the area of where these animals are at – the only time a person needs to be there is to help the animals and to protect them – humans need to leave the animals alone and there home lands / make due with what space they have already stolen and forced animals out of . Stop breeding stupid people so not to have to claim the lands of these animals .
Humans are rapidly taking over everything so animals do not have a chance to survive. The earth is dying and not able to provide food for animals and more humans.
It’s very disturbing that people think they can own and control everything on our planet. I care and suffer seeing all the destruction is very sad.
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard conservative-minded folks here in northern California complain about the loss of jobs over protecting habitat for the Spotted Owl. And you might think they have a point until you see the losses we suffered here in wildfires in 2018 alone. Some truly record-breaking disasters. But no one really understands that the greatest numbers of species living in rain forests also happen to be near the equator in some of the poorest countries on the face of the Earth. These are people, whose populations have expanded dramatically since 1940, with the development of railways, automobiles, and electricity. And they are now strip-mining their countries of virtually everything as they ignorantly try to scratch out a living on soil that nature took hundreds of thousands if not millions of years to grow the rain forest ecosystem. In Ecuador alone, the 1938 population was approximately 38,000. Their rain forest was still 95% intact. As of 1988, the population was above 300,000 and there was only 5% of its rain forest left- mostly in poorly guarded national parks, raided constantly by lumber companies. The endemic species lost to this tragedy would be staggering–IF we even knew what was lost; many species have neither been classified nor catalogued.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Good luck with AB-572.
Seems like an excellent plan to me. I am all for saving any wildlife. Go for it!
Thanku assenblymember Kaira Ash. If we don’t do something now there will be nothing left and we will sll die. 🐵🐒