Skip to main content
Best News Website or Mobile Service
WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Best News Website or Mobile Service
Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Hamburger Menu
Advertisement
Advertisement

World

EU’s landmark anti-deforestation law on shaky ground after delay in implementation

The bloc is responsible for about 10 per cent of global deforestation due to its appetite for products such as beef, coffee, soy and wood.

EU’s landmark anti-deforestation law on shaky ground after delay in implementation
A Nov 14, 2020 photograph released by the Agent Green NGO shows an area of suspected illegal deforestation in Valea Rea, Romania's southeast Fagaras Mountains. (Photo: Agent Green via AP)
New: You can now listen to articles.

This audio is generated by an AI tool.

BRUSSELS: A ban on deforestation across the European Union was set to take effect this month, but the landmark law now faces an uncertain future.

Lawmakers from the bloc’s member states voted last month to make amendments to the proposed legislation and delay it from taking effect for another year.

Supporters of the move say it will provide more clarity for importers and exporters, but critics have expressed fears that the delay could chip away at the effectiveness of the measure.

The 27-nation EU is responsible for about 10 per cent of global deforestation due to its appetite for products such as beef, coffee, soy and wood.

The delayed legislation prohibits a vast range of goods – including coffee, cocoa, soy, timber, palm oil, cattle, printing paper and rubber – if they are produced using land that was deforested after December 2020.

Firms importing the merchandise in question into the EU will be responsible for tracking their supply chains to prove the goods did not originate from deforested zones, relying on geolocation and satellite data.

Exporting countries considered high-risk will have at least 9 per cent of products sent to the EU subjected to checks, with the proportion falling for lower-risk nations.

In October, the European Commission – the EU’s primary executive arm – proposed a delay after countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas complained that the rules increased production and export costs, especially for smallholders.

Others had objected that the EU was late to issue compliance guidelines as well as a clear benchmarking system to divide countries into different risk categories.

“NO RISK” CATEGORY

When parliament voted to delay the ban last month, among the amendments introduced was the creation of a "no risk" category that would see products from some nations, such as Germany, face virtually no scrutiny.

The country benchmarking system currently comprises low-risk, standing-risk and high-risk tiers.

No-risk nations are deemed to have a negligible impact on deforestation and subsequently be subject to less stringent requirements.

Member of the European Parliament Christine Schneider from Germany said: “We must show them (exporting nations) that if they do their homework and if they fulfill the targets we want to reach, then they don't have to do the same work (as) the countries who (don’t) secure our nature and our forests.”

However, the amendments have caused deep divisions within the EU, with some arguing that the proposed changes erode the law’s effectiveness in combating deforestation.

“If there’s one category where you don’t have to prove that you can comply with the fact that these products have not led to deforestation, you actually give a big incentive for laundering commodities via those countries,” said Stientje van Veldhoven, vice president of global research non-profit World Resources Institute.

“(This is) thereby watering down the overall effect of the directive in a very significant way.”

The delay in implementation also triggered an outcry from environmental groups, which accused lawmakers of adding loopholes to a bill hailed as a major breakthrough in the fight to protect nature and combat climate change.

The EU’s institutions are now negotiating over the proposed changes to the law, which was about to start bearing fruit – but is now being put back through the political machine.
Source: CNA/lt(dn)
Advertisement

Also worth reading

Advertisement