Solidarity Letter Supporting NY Trees Bill

A solidarity letter from 154 civil society and Indigenous Peoples organizations across 28 countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa calling on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the TREES Act. The signatories argue that the bill would use New York's economic leverage to combat global deforestation and climate change, which they link to the displacement of people from the global South to New York cities.

• The TREES Act (Bill # A.9711/S.8898) is presented as a mechanism for New York to use economic leverage to support the international effort to combat climate change and protect tropical forests.
• The signatories link the climate emergency and deforestation to waves of migration from countries such as Honduras, Haiti, and Congo, with refugees arriving in New York locations including Floyd Bennett Field, Albany’s West Hill, Buffalo’s West Side, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.
• The document highlights the scale of global forest loss, stating that half of the world's forests have disappeared and over 9 million acres of rainforest were destroyed last year.
• The letter references the EU Deforestation Regulation as a precedent for wealthy nations recognizing how the consumption of goods like coffee, lumber, palm oil, and beef causes devastation in the territories of the global South.
• The TREES Act is described as a pragmatic and humble change that will have a significant long-term impact on the global system.

APA

Gomes, M., Brownell, A., & Suhadi, Z. (2025). Solidarity Letter Supporting NY Trees Bill. Friends of the Earth. https://foe.org/solidarity-letters-supporting-the-ny-trees-bill/

Chicago

Gomes, Marcel, Alfred Brownell, and Zenzi Suhadi. Solidarity Letter Supporting NY Trees Bill. Friends of the Earth, 2025. https://foe.org/solidarity-letters-supporting-the-ny-trees-bill/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Gomes |first1=Marcel |last2=Brownell |first2=Alfred |last3=Suhadi |first3=Zenzi |title=Solidarity Letter Supporting NY Trees Bill |publisher=Friends of the Earth |date=18 September 2025 |url=https://foe.org/solidarity-letters-supporting-the-ny-trees-bill/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{gomes2025solidarity, author = {Gomes, Marcel and Brownell, Alfred and Suhadi, Zenzi}, title = {{Solidarity Letter Supporting NY Trees Bill}}, publisher = {Friends of the Earth}, year = {2025}, month = sep, url = {https://foe.org/solidarity-letters-supporting-the-ny-trees-bill/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }