Cocoa, coffee, soy, but also palm oil, wood, beef and rubber are concerned, as well as several associated materials (leather, furniture, printed paper, charcoal, etc.), according to this text concluded at the end of long negotiations between the European Parliament and the Member States of the EU.

"It's a 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", said congratulated Pascal Canfin (Renew, liberals), chairman of the Environment Committee in the European Parliament.

On the eve of COP15 Biodiversity in Montreal, the EU's decision "not only changes the rules of the game for European consumption, but creates a huge incentive for other countries to change their practices", says Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove , from the NGO WWF, while Global Witness applauds "a historic moment".

At the origin of 16% of global deforestation through its imports (mainly soy and palm oil, 2017 figures), the EU is the second destroyer of tropical forests behind China, according to the WWF.

The decline of tropical forests © Valentin RAKOVSKY / AFP/Archives

Importation into the EU will be prohibited if these products come from deforested land after December 2020. Importing companies, responsible for their supply chain, will have to prove traceability via crop geolocation data, which can be linked to satellite photos.

- "Change the rules of the game" -

The text was proposed in November 2021 by the European Commission, and broadly taken up by the States.

But MEPs had voted in September to strengthen it significantly, by widening the range of products concerned, in particular to rubber, absent from the initial proposal.

The European Parliament had also called for the scope of the text to be extended to other threatened wooded ecosystems, such as the Cerrado savannah (Brazil/Paraguay/Bolivia), from which a large part of European soybean imports come.

The European Parliament, May 9, 2022 in Strasbourg © Ludovic MARIN / POOL/AFP/Archives

The agreement reached between MEPs and States finally stipulates that this extension "to other wooded land" should be considered no later than one year after the entry into force of the text.

Similarly, after two years, the Commission is required to study a possible extension to other products (such as corn, which MEPs wanted to target immediately), to other ecosystems rich in carbon storage and biodiversity ( peatlands...), but also to the financial sector, another strong demand from Parliament.

The EU could thus consider obliging financial institutions to refuse financial services or credits if these risk being associated with deforestation activities.

A report deplored by the NGO Global Witness, according to which banks based in the EU granted in 2016-2020 some 30 billion euros of financing to twenty giants of the food industry responsible for deforestation.

- Not just primary forests -

On the other hand, "we have obtained a much more robust definition" to cover all forests, and not just primary forests, observed Christophe Hansen (EPP, right), negotiator for Parliament.

He is also pleased to have been able to include in the final text "guarantees to protect the rights of indigenous peoples": importers will thus have to "verify compliance with the legislation of the country of production in terms of human rights".

The final text includes "guarantees to protect the rights of indigenous peoples": importers will have to "verify compliance with the legislation of the country of production in terms of human rights" © Lina VANEGAS / AFP/Archives

Finally, strict rules of implementation have been adopted: at least 9% of the volumes imported from countries where the risk of deforestation is high must be controlled, and the fines, calculated according to the environmental damage, may reach up to 4 % of annual turnover in the EU.

The WWF nevertheless points to an "imperfect text": the immediate inclusion of savannahs "would have made a huge difference for ecosystems in permanent danger", points out Ms. Schulmeister-Oldenhove, also regretting a definition of deforestation limited to "conversion" in cropland, not including all damage within forested areas.

"This is a major step forward (...) But European governments should be ashamed of leaving loopholes", added John Hyland, of Greenpeace, judging that the indigenous peoples received only "very precarious" protection since s relying on local law, which varies from country to country.

© 2022 AFP