European Parliament votes to end imports from deforestation

Chocolate, coffee, wood or even rubber… Importers who wish to sell these products in the European Union will now have to ensure that they are not the result of deforestation, according to a text adopted on Wednesday April 19 by the European Parliament .

This regulation, voted by a very large majority, aims to curb the disappearance of forests on the other side of the world and, in doing so, to fight against climate change and preserve biodiversity. With this new text, the import into the EU of cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soya, wood, rubber, charcoal or beef will be prohibited if these products come from land deforested after December 2020. Companies will also have to ensure that they have been produced with respect for human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples.

The EU, the second destroyer of tropical forests

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. It’s here “first law in the world that will put an end to imported deforestation” welcomed MEP Pascal Canfin (Renew, Liberals).

Greenpeace has nuanced the scope of the text by seeing it as “only a first step”. For the NGO, this regulation has “flaws”, for example by excluding ecosystems such as the savannah and by failing to target European banks which finance projects that destroy forests.