{"id":52106,"date":"2021-09-24T12:25:24","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T11:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/?p=52106"},"modified":"2021-09-24T12:26:04","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T11:26:04","slug":"including-smallholders-in-eu-action-to-protect-and-restore-the-worlds-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/publication\/including-smallholders-in-eu-action-to-protect-and-restore-the-worlds-forests\/","title":{"rendered":"Including smallholders in EU action to protect and restore the world\u2019s forests"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In December 2021, the European Commission (EC) will release a regulatory proposal to minimise the European Union\u2019s (EU) deforestation and forest degradation footprint. A new joint briefing paper by Fair Trade Advocacy Office, Solidaridad, Fern, IUCN NL and Tropenbos International outlines how the EC can ensure deforestation-free supply chains and at the same time recognise the rights, roles and potential positive contributions of smallholders.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Header photo: Woman weeding a salad plantation in a West African farming village. \u00a9 Riccardo Mayer for Shutterstock<\/a>, ID: 1599380701<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The EC\u2019s regulatory proposal to minimise the EU\u2019s deforestation is in line with the first priority of its 2019 Communication<\/a> on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World\u2019s Forests. \u2018This new regulation focuses on the demand side of commodities like palm oil, soy and cocoa, but the EC has also committed supporting producer countries to tackle the underlying causes of deforestation such as poor governance and weak tenure security rights,\u2019 Heleen van den Hombergh, senior expert agro commodities at IUCN NL explains.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Sustainable impact<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The paper explains why legislative and supportive efforts need to go beyond avoiding high-risk areas and instead look at how to deliver supply chains that support producers to have a sustainable impact. To be truly effective, demand side and additional supply side measures against deforestation in EU forest and ecosystem risk commodities (FERCs) supply chains should strengthen rather than weaken the position of smallholders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Highlights of the paper<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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The paper provides a number of recommendations to the EU:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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