NGOs deplore that the new regulations do not include wooded ecosystems such as savannas, where soy is produced to the union.
by perrine mouterde
Unpublished, ambitious but still imperfect regulations. After months of negotiations, the Parliament and the Member States of the European Union (EU) reached an agreement, on the night of Monday, 5 to Tuesday, December 6, on a new law prohibiting the import of products related to Deforestation. Once implemented, European consumers should be able to drink coffee and eat chocolate by being sure not to contribute to the destruction of tropical forests on the other side of the world.
France, which had made the fight against deforestation one of the priorities of its presidency of the Union, immediately praised a “pioneer and innovative” text. “Europe will close its doors to daily products with the most impact on deforestation, it is radical,” said Pascal Canfin, the president of the Environment Commission of the European Parliament. “We are the first in the world to do so! The battle for the climate and the biodiversity accelerates,” said President Emmanuel Macron.
After two years of an intensive campaign, NGOs have also praised an agreement that “changes the rules of the game”, even if it remains to be improved. “It is a good way to open the 15
traceability system
Concretely, this law will oblige companies to verify that the goods they sell in the EU have contributed either to deforestation or to the deterioration of forests after December 31, 2020. They will have to set up A traceability system and go up the supply chain to the production plot, in particular thanks to satellite surveillance tools. The measure concerns cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, rubber and wood, as well as derivatives.
Through the consumption of these products, the EU is at the origin of around 16 % of world deforestation, which makes it the second destructive of tropical forests behind China. Deforestation dramatically harms biodiversity but also to the fight against warming, forests playing a major role of carbon storage and climate regulation.
NGOs, however, regret that the law does not take into account wooded ecosystems other than forests, contrary to what several states defended including France. “By not inclining the wooded savannas, we do not meet the main issue which is the importation of soy from South America, deplores Klervi Le Guenic, campaign manager tropical forests within the Canopée association. Each year, ten times the area of Paris disappears in Cerrado. “
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