100 signatures reached
To: New York State Governor Kathy Hochul
NY Lawmakers, Pass the Bill to Stop Tropical Deforestation!
Governor Hochul - I urge you to support S.4859/A.5682, the New York Tropical Deforestation-Free Procurement Act.
New York is a climate leader and a business leader. This bill is good for the climate and it's good for business.
An estimated 18 million acres of forest, an area half the size of New York State, is lost every year due to human activities. Tropical forests cover roughly seven percent of the Earth’s surface but harbor close to 50 percent of all species on Earth, and tropical deforestation is the third leading driver of global CO2 emissions.
This bill will put New York State at the forefront of global efforts to end the crisis of deforestation in tropical regions by ensuring that entities contracting to provide goods or services to our state government do not drive deforestation through their supply chains.
Why is this important?
Saving tropical forests is key to slowing the climate emergency, to protecting biodiversity, and to preventing abuses of human rights throughout the tropics. This bill will put New York State at the forefront of global efforts to end the crisis of deforestation in tropical regions by ensuring that entities contracting to provide goods or services to our state government do not drive deforestation through their supply chains.
The bill has a provision to support small, medium, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses in greening their supply chains and meeting compliance requirements. It mandates creation of a diverse, multi-stakeholder body to advise implementation. And importantly, it requires subcontractors who produce tropical forest risk commodities to obtain the free prior and informed consent of any tropical Indigenous communities impacted by their operations, in line with the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
This New York bill practical, is doable, and is a critical step in using U.S. laws to protect tropical forests.
How it will be delivered
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