It’s about time: the EU has taken a historic step to act against deforestation

“This is the first in the world! It’s the coffee for breakfast, the chocolate we eat, the charcoal in our barbecues, the paper in our books. It’s radical”, welcomed Pascal Canfin, chairman of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee. According to AFP extension And The Parisianon the night of Tuesday 6 December, Parliament reached an agreement with the Member States, banning the importation of products deriving from deforestation. Specifically, these are cocoa, coffee, soybeans, palm oil, wood, beef and rubber, but also various associated materials such as leather, furniture, printed paper or carbon, just to name a few. A measure that applies to tropical forest products logged after December 2020.

The EU, responsible for 16% of deforestation due to imports

Parliament had already proposed this text in November 2021and member states had largely adopted it. This agreement strengthens it by extending the list of affected products. MEPs have also already planned to further extend the application of this measure. Thus, a year after the entry into force of the text, the protected areas should be joined by other threatened forest ecosystems, such as the Cerrado savannah. It is from this area, which extends over Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, that most of Europe’s soybean imports come. Two years after the introduction of the text, other products, such as corn, could also be added to the list. Recall that according to the NGO WWF, the EU, responsible for 16% of deforestation due to its imports, is the second largest destroyer of forests after China.

Cover image: Unsplash / Geran de Klerk