Friday, November 19, 2021

EU plans to ban food imports from deforested areas


Deforestation in regions like the Amazon has Europeans worried (AFP/CARL DE SOUZA)


Wed, November 17, 2021

The EU plans to bar food and wood imports from deforested areas, according to a proposal unveiled Wednesday aimed at using its trade power to drive sustainability.

The draft law, which Brussels wants to turn into binding rules for all 27 European Union nations, would require companies show their soy, beef, palm oil, cocoa, coffee and wood products are certified "deforestation-free".

It follows an international pledge made at the COP26 summit last week to end deforestation by 2030.

"This proposal is a truly ground-breaking one," the EU commissioner for climate action policy, Virginijus Sinkevicius, told a media conference.

"It targets not just illegal deforestation but also deforestation driven by agricultural expansion," he said.

Under the EU plan, two criteria would have to be met: that the commodities are produced in accordance with the origin country's laws; and that they were not produced on land deforested or degraded since the beginning of 2021.

Imports from higher-risk countries would be subject to tighter checks.

The European Commission did not say when it hoped to have the new legislation adopted.

The rules could impact countries such as Brazil, where European disquiet at razing of the Amazon rainforest by cattle farmers is holding up implementation of an EU-Mercosur trade deal.

Clearing of the Amazon hit a new record last month, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research.

The environmental protection group WWF says the huge EU market is responsible for 16 percent of global deforestation linked to international trade.

It and other NGOs welcome the EU plan as a first step, but say it does not go far enough. Greenpeace says it does not address deforestation from other commodities such as rubber and maize, or from pig and poultry farming.

- Waste and soil -


Other sustainability proposals presented alongside the anti-deforestation rules were on waste management and improving the health of soils.

"These initiatives show that the European Union is serious about the green transition and just keeps moving forward with it," said the Commission vice president in charge of overseeing the EU's Green Deal, Frans Timmermans.

On waste, the Commission wants to see "circular economy" principles attached to the way it sends abroad its millions of tonnes of discarded metals, cardboard, plastic, textiles and other detritus.

Waste exports to non-OECD countries would be restricted and allowed only if those destinations agree and were able to handle them sustainably. Currently the two top destinations for EU waste in that category are Turkey and India.

Shipments to OECD countries would be monitored and suspended if grave environmental problems arose. Those destinations include Britain, Switzerland and Norway.

The soil strategy aims for a mix of voluntary and mandatory measures to increase soil carbon in farmland and fight desertification, to get soil ecosystems healthy by 2050.

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EU pitches new plan to battle global deforestation from home


Deforested mountains from massive limestone quarries are seen in Ipoh, Perak state Malaysia, Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. Deforestation affects the people and animals where trees are cut, as well as the wider world and in terms of climate change, and cutting trees both adds carbon dioxide to the air and removes the ability to absorb existing carbon dioxide. World leaders are gathered in Scotland at a United Nations climate summit, known as COP26, to push nations to ratchet up their efforts to curb climate change.
 (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

RAF CASERT
Wed, November 17, 2021

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Wednesday pitched a new plan for the bloc's citizens to battle global deforestation from home, offering assurances that a sip of coffee or bite of chocolate will not have come at the cost of trees.

Following up on deforestation commitments made at the recent COP26 climate meeting on global warming, the 27-nation EU is proposing that companies must ensure that products for sale in the market of 450 million people do not harm forests elsewhere.

“We must take the responsibility to act at home,” EU Vice President Frans Timmermans said.

If approved by EU member states and the European Parliament, the Commission's proposal would force companies and producers to give assurances that products are “deforestation-free.”

Deforestation in South America, Africa and Asia is driven mainly by agricultural expansion. The key commodities the EU is targeting are soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa and coffee.

To compel company compliance, businesses would need to collect geographical coordinates from where the commodities were grown and make sure they did not impact deforestation. They would also need to perform due diligence to make sure everything meets EU standards.


Deforested mountains from massive limestone quarries are seen in Ipoh, Perak state Malaysia, Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. Deforestation affects the people and animals where trees are cut, as well as the wider world and in terms of climate change, and cutting trees both adds carbon dioxide to the air and removes the ability to absorb existing carbon dioxide. World leaders are gathered in Scotland at a United Nations climate summit, known as COP26, to push nations to ratchet up their efforts to curb climate change. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

The EU hopes that with the scheme it can save some 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion) annually in carbon emissions.

“Our deforestation regulation answers (the) citizens' call to minimize the European contribution to deforestation and to promote sustainable consumption," Timmermans said.

“It ensures that we only import these products if we can ascertain that they are deforestation-free and produced legally,” he said.

At COP26, over 100 nations representing more than 85% of the world’s forests pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. Among them were several countries with massive forests, including Brazil, China, Colombia, Congo, Indonesia, Russia and the United States.

Environmental groups cautiously welcomed the plan, even though they said the proposals still contained far too many loopholes.

“For the first time there is a glimmer of hope that the EU – one of the world’s biggest markets – could curb its destructive impact on the world’s forests," Greenpeace campaigner Sini Eräjää said .

“EU governments and the European Parliament must tighten up the law so people can be sure that what’s in their shopping basket isn’t linked to the destruction of nature,” Eräjää added.

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