#09 EU Law to Prevent Global Deforestation.
Facts to know:
On April 19th, 2023 the European Parliament adopted a groundbreaking new law to stop products causing forest destruction from being imported, sold in or exported from the EU.?
“Until today, our supermarket shelves have all too often been filled with products covered in the ashes of burned-down rainforests and irreversibly destroyed ecosystems and which had wiped out the livelihoods of indigenous people. All too often, this happened without consumers knowing about it. I am relieved that European consumers can now rest assured that they will no longer be unwittingly complicit in deforestation when they eat their bar of chocolate or enjoy a well-deserved coffee. The new law is not only key in our fight against climate change and biodiversity loss, but should also break the deadlock preventing us from deepening trade relations with countries that share our environmental values and ambitions” Says rapporteur Christophe Hansen (EPP, LU).
Objectives
In line with the 2019 Communication on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests, the EU aims to improve the health of existing forests, and significantly increase sustainable, biodiverse forest coverage worldwide. The EU has five main priorities
An Overview of deforestation
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 420 million hectares of forest — an area larger than the EU — were converted from forests to agricultural use between 1990 and 2020. EU consumption represents around 10% of this global deforestation. Palm oil and soya account for more than two-thirds of this.
Forests cover nearly 1/3 of land globally. That’s 4.06 billion hectares. In other words, there is around 0.52 ha of forest for every person on the planet.
Between 1990 and 2020 The area of naturally regenerating forests has decreased since 1990 (at a declining rate of loss), but the area of planted forests has increased by 123 million ha.
Primary forests cover about one billion hectares
The world still has at least 1.11 billion ha of primary forest. Combined, three countries – Brazil, Canada and the Russian Federation – host more than half (61 percent) of the world’s primary forest.
The area of primary forest has decreased by 81 million ha since 1990, but the rate of loss more than halved in 2010–2020 compared with the previous decade.
Where is forest being lost and where is it being gained?
Deforestation continues but at a lower rate
An estimated 420 million ha of forest has been lost worldwide through deforestation since 1990, but the rate of forest loss has declined substantially. In the most recent five-year period (2015–2020), the annual rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million ha, down from 12 million ha in 2010–2015.
What risks do forests face?
Forests face many disturbances that can adversely affect their health and vitality and reduce their ability to provide a full range of goods and ecosystem services.
About 98 million ha of forest were affected by fire in 2015*; this was mainly in the tropical domain, where the fire burned about 4 percent of the total forest area in that year. More than two-thirds of the total forest area affected was in Africa and South America.
Insects, diseases and severe weather events damaged about 40 million ha of forests in 2015, mainly in the temperate and boreal domains.
Forest used for production & Exploitation
About 30 percent of all forests are used primarily for production
Globally, about 1.15 billion ha of forest is managed primarily for the production of wood and non-wood forest products. In addition, 749 million ha is designated for multiple use, which often includes production.
Worldwide, the area of forest designated primarily for production has remained relatively stable but the area of multiple-use forest has decreased by about 71 million ha since 1990.
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To fight climate change and biodiversity loss, the new law obliges companies to ensure products sold in the EU have not led to deforestation and forest degradation.
While no country or commodity will be banned, companies will only be allowed to sell products in the EU if the supplier of the product has issued a so-called “due diligence” statement confirming that the product does not come from deforested land or has led to forest degradation, including of irreplaceable primary forests, after 31 December 2020.
As requested by Parliament, companies will also have to verify that these products comply with relevant legislation of the country of production, including on human rights, and that the rights of affected indigenous people have been respected.
Products covered
The products covered by the new legislation are: cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm-oil, soya and wood, including products that contain, have been fed with or have been made using these commodities (such as leather, chocolate and furniture), as in the original Commission proposal. During the negotiations, MEPs successfully added rubber, charcoal, printed paper products and a number of palm oil derivatives.
Michael Rice, a ClientEarth lawyer, said this: “The EU’s deforestation law is one of the biggest forward steps to date in the fight to protect the world’s forests. Today’s vote gives hope that we can turn the tide against environmental destruction and the harm it causes to Indigenous Peoples and forest communities.
“However, we can’t down our tools yet. The EU has created a new gold standard for forest protection on paper. Now EU member states and the European Commission must ensure that the strength of the law is not lost in practice.
The first order of business will be for EU member states to upgrade their existing enforcement architecture to lay a strong foundation for implementation. That includes ensuring that their enforcement authorities have adequate powers and resources and can be held accountable when they fail to properly uphold the law.”
Certain parts of the law will be reviewed and potentially extended at different milestones after the rules come into force, including provisions that were watered down in the law’s final negotiations such as extending its application to other non-forest ecosystems, like savannahs and wetlands, to the finance sector, and to other products, like consumer goods.
Rice added: “We will be closely following how member states prepare to enforce this important law, and watching the Commission to ensure it uses the review process to make the regulation watertight. That starts with covering all environmentally critical ecosystems like savannahs and wetlands, and not letting companies’ financial backers off the hook.”
When the new rules enter into force, all relevant companies will have to conduct strict due diligence if they place on the EU market, or export from it: palm oil, cattle, soy, coffee, cocoa, timber and rubber as well as derived products (such as beef, furniture, or chocolate). These commodities have been chosen on the basis of a thorough impact assessment identifying them as the main driver of deforestation due to agricultural expansion.?
New due diligence rules for companies
The new regulation sets strong mandatory due diligence rules for companies that want to place relevant products on the EU market or export them. Operators and traders will have to prove that the products are both deforestation-free (produced on land that was not subject to deforestation after 31 December 2020) and legal (compliant with all relevant applicable laws in force in the country of production).
Companies will also be required to collect precise geographical information on the farmland where the commodities that they source have been grown, so that these commodities can be checked for compliance. Member States need to make sure that not complying with the rules leads to effective and dissuasive penalties.
The list of commodities that are covered will be regularly reviewed and updated, taking into account new data such as changing deforestation patterns.
The Commission will run a benchmarking system that will assess countries or parts thereof and their level of risk of deforestation and forest degradation - a high, standard or low risk - also taking into consideration agricultural expansion for the production of the seven commodities and derived products. Obligations for companies will depend on the level of risk. This will also help guide the EU's work together with partner countries on halting deforestation, while also paying particular attention to the situation of local communities and indigenous people.
Next steps
The European Parliament and the Council will now formally have to adopt the new Regulation before it can enter into force. Once the Regulation is in force, operators and traders will have 18 months to implement the new rules. Micro and small enterprises will enjoy a longer adaptation period, as well as other specific provisions.
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Curated by Chiara Quaresmini and Ajay Goyal for ForestSAT AS