The European Union sets a first milestone against imported deforestation
In this illustrative image, on August 23, 2020, cattle graze on land recently burned and deforested by pastoralists near Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil.
© AP Photo / Andre Penner
Text by: Léopold Picot Follow
6 mins
The European Commission presented on November 17 a draft regulation to fight against imported deforestation, before a vote in Parliament in 2022. Soybeans, beef, cocoa and other products from recently deforested areas can no longer be sold on European territory.
A world first, which could be even more ambitious.
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“
Between 1990 and last year, we lost 420 million hectares of forest, an area the size of the European Union,
” said Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of the Green Deal, during the November 17 press conference. Of course, the vast majority of global deforestation takes place outside of Europe. But the European Union has a responsibility: by importing goods produced in deforested areas, it would have caused, in twelve years, the deforestation of 3.5 million hectares, according
to WWF calculations
.
This phenomenon is what is called imported deforestation.
Outsourcing environmental issues abroad is commonplace for developed countries.
Hence the importance of legislating in order to limit the import of products contributing to global warming or the loss of biodiversity.
European citizens have also become aware of this: during
a consultation organized by the European Union
, 81.4% of the million respondents considered that it had a role to play in the fight against deforestation. .
A welcome first step
The European Commission has therefore just presented a draft regulation, which will have to be debated and then voted on in the European Parliament in 2022. Among the subjects discussed, imported deforestation.
The goal?
Prohibit the sale on European soil of soybeans, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa and coffee as well as some of their derived products, if they come from a deforested territory after December 31, 2020.
This is a massive win!
The EU puts on the table today the first ever law to stop imported deforestation.
It is a key piece of the #EUGreenDeal https://t.co/d6yWrd5Nm7
- Pascal Canfin (@pcanfin) November 17, 2021
"
This is a world first of which we can be very proud,
" greets Pascal Canfin, chairman of the European Parliament's Environment Committee. "
This is the first time that a political entity has said
: I stop allowing products like cocoa, coffee, palm oil or chocolate to enter my market, if the producer cannot demonstrate that it has not contributed to the deforestation of tropical forests.
"Samuel Leré, advocacy manager of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, adds:"
We feared that the Commission would go through labels, private entities, it finally decided to go through a real duty of vigilance. This is something that is very positive and that we have been asking for for years.
"
Define "
recent deforestation
"
To ensure the good faith of importers, the European Union will rely on satellite images provided in particular by the Copernicus satellite.
When a coffee or cocoa producer wants to import into Europe, he will have to demonstrate, with satellite images to support it, that the product he is exploiting does not come from recently deforested hectares.
It will be possible, to the nearest square kilometer, to see if the culture has spread to the detriment of the surrounding forest.
If so, the product will not enter the European market.
This satellite image of a fire in Siberia on Sunday July 25, 2021 was captured by the Copernicus satellite.
Its images can be used to objectively verify the statements of importers on deforestation.
© ESA via AP
But the text of the law proposed by the Commission plans to be based on satellite images produced from December 2020, even though satellite images have existed since 2015. Products from areas deforested between 2015 and 2020 would then not be prohibited.
“
What we call in technical jargon the date of cutting the forest will be one of the elements of negotiation in Parliament.
The current Commission proposal is set for December 31, 2020, we can be more ambitious than that,
”insists Pascal Canfin.
The list of products concerned will also be at the heart of the debates.
The French MEP hopes to add the cultivation of rubber trees, from which rubber is derived: by 2024,
4 to 8 million additional hectares
could be needed to keep up with global consumption.
Samuel Leré, of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, goes further: “
There is a lack of rubber, corn, but also everything relating to mining activities or the construction of large dams, which are also responsible for deforestation.
This also excludes, in fact, all the private actors who finance those who deforest, in particular the banks.
"
From the forest to the savannah?
The Hulot Foundation also fears that exporting countries will destroy other natural environments to compensate for the shortfall in forest areas. “
This duty of vigilance only applies to the forest, and not to other ecosystems that should be protected, such as savannas or wetlands. The risk is that this deforestation will shift to other protected areas full of biodiversity and necessary for climate protection
, ”laments Samuel Leré.
For Pascal Canfin, one of the solutions is to change agricultural practices. “
Our objective is to support producing countries, particularly on the African continent, where a lot of cocoa is produced, and where there will be more and more production of rubber and palm oil. We want to support the sectors, the economic players, the countries concerned, towards guaranteed production methods without deforestation, so that they can continue to sell on the European market.
The MEP is thinking in particular of agroforestry. This agricultural practice consists of cultivating among the trees, which conserves part of the biodiversity and the canopy. “
There are also productivity gains to be gained where hectares have already been deforested,
” adds the MEP.
Legislative asymmetry
Last black point for associations, the question of beef.
The associations are asking for a mirror clause: it is the fact of applying the European law on the products that we import.
If we applied a mirror clause to beef, as European beef is traceable from birth to slaughter, so would the Brazilian.
However, in Brazil, traceability does not begin until fattening, which does not occur until a few years after the birth of the animal.
A real legislative asymmetry.
This mirror clause is not included in the regulation presented on Tuesday 17 November by the Commission.
A major flaw for the advocacy manager of the Hulot Foundation: “
The problem is that before the so-called fattening period, it will be impossible to know where the animal has gone.
The calf could have been raised in deforested territory, then sold to the importer who does not have a recent deforested area, and the EU will have no way of knowing
.
"
The Foundation hopes that the French government will take up the issue before the final vote on the law, scheduled for next year.
In May 2021, Emmanuel Macron said
he was in favor of mirror clauses
in trade treaties.
►
To read also:
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