{"id":59634,"date":"2021-11-18T14:31:13","date_gmt":"2021-11-18T13:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/?p=59634"},"modified":"2021-11-18T14:31:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T13:31:14","slug":"global-deforestation-eu-commission-outlines-new-law-to-address-agriculture-trade-chains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/news\/global-deforestation-eu-commission-outlines-new-law-to-address-agriculture-trade-chains\/","title":{"rendered":"Global deforestation: EU Commission outlines new law to address agriculture trade chains"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yesterday, the European Commission proposed a\u202fground-breaking\u202fnew legislation which aims to minimise the EU\u2019s footprint on the world\u2019s forests. The new law hopes to keep products linked to\u202fdeforestation\u202fand\u202fforest degradation\u202foff the EU market.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Header photo: Logging in forest (c) Meritt Thomas via Unsplash<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The EU\u2019s consumption of\u202fagro-commodities contributes to the region\u2019s large impact on climate and biodiversity, especially through deforestation and conversion of ecosystems. Yesterday’s proposal by the Commission, if fully supported by the Council of the EU and European Parliament, will tighten controls on the supply chains of beef, leather, palm oil, soy, soy oil cake, wood, cocoa, and coffee<\/strong> through new regulatory\u202fmeasures.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\u2018IUCN applauds the far-reaching legislation which can have a positive impact on the ground for forests. However, the initial proposal has overlooked other vulnerable ecosystems which are important for biodiversity and climate, such as savannahs, wetlands, peatlands and biodiversity rich grasslands,\u2019 said Alberto Arroyo Schnell, Head of Policy and Programme at IUCN Europe<\/em>. \u2018Two years after the Regulation enters into force, the Commission plans to reassess whether to include these ecosystems. It is important to not only conserve forests, but all threatened ecosystems as soon as possible.\u2019 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The regulation also makes it mandatory for certain commodities and related products placed on the EU market to be produced deforestation-free and according to the law in producing countries. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\u2018Yesterday\u2019s proposal gives a clear responsibility to traders and operators to ensure forest protection and legality in EU value chains, an important step. However, the Regulation could better recognise the value of robust existing tools for verification within due diligence, which can also address important social risks,\u2019 said Heleen van den Hombergh, Senior Advisor Agro-commodities, IUCN National Committee of Netherlands.<\/em> \u2018Last but not least, support to conversion-free responsible production, especially in risk landscapes, will be key to avoid pushing deforestation to other less demanding markets, and have genuine conservation impact on the ground\u2019. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Also in yesterday\u2019s package of announcements was the release of a new EU Soil Strategy which aims to protect and restore Europe\u2019s soils<\/strong>, an often forgotten component of ecosystems. One of the key announcements in the strategy was a new legislative proposal on soil health due in 2023. This proposal will introduce legally binding targets on the drainage of wetlands and organic soils, peatlands restoration and carbon farming, among others. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The Strategy also mentions a second legislative proposal – the upcoming legislative framework for an EU sustainable food system. Considering the lack of EU legislation and systematic monitoring has hindered progress in soil protection[1]<\/sup>, the legislations will be an important step to ensure soil health across Europe<\/strong>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The Council of the EU and European Parliament will have\u00a0their say over the coming months. IUCN hopes that both\u00a0the deforestation legislation\u00a0and the Soil Strategy will be fully supported\u00a0by the Institutions and all stakeholders<\/strong>.\u00a0IUCN\u00a0is\u00a0ready to provide our expertise and facilitate essential open dialogues amongst stakeholders to ensure real impact on the ground that benefits the planet and people alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Yesterday, the European Commission proposed a\u202fground-breaking\u202fnew legislation which aims to minimise the EU\u2019s footprint on the world\u2019s forests. The new law hopes to keep products linked to\u202fdeforestation\u202fand\u202fforest degradation\u202foff the EU market. Header photo: Logging in forest (c) Meritt Thomas via Unsplash The EU\u2019s consumption of\u202fagro-commodities contributes to the region\u2019s large impact on climate and biodiversity, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":59624,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[193,197,196],"class_list":["post-59634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-palm-oil","tag-responsible-value-chains","tag-soy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59634"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59639,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59634\/revisions\/59639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iucn.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}