The European Union is aiming to stop vast swathes of tropical forest from being destroyed or degraded with a new law that came into effect last week. But sustainability researchers have told 快猫短视频 the law doesn鈥檛 address the systemic issues that cause deforestation, and there is uncertainty about how effective it will be.
From 29 June, large to medium-sized companies registered in the EU have 18 months to ensure their products haven鈥檛 been produced on land deforested after 2020; smaller companies have 24 months. The law applies to seven commodities: cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soya, cattle and wood.
that it will prevent more than 70,000 hectares of forest loss annually by 2030, reducing carbon emissions by 31.9 million tonnes per year.
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But the law has faced a from countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, which say they weren鈥檛 consulted on the regulations until after they were adopted by the European parliament in April, and fear that it could be detrimental to their economies.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 great that the EU is taking responsibility for the environmental issues involved, but I think there鈥檚 not a lot of clarity about how [this law] will be implemented,鈥� says at the University of Cambridge.
Studies have shown that there are several limitations to supply chain interventions to reduce deforestation, says Garrett. A recent study she conducted looked at the impact of global companies鈥� zero-deforestation commitments on . It found that a commitment made by the four largest cattle meatpacking companies in 2009 only cut deforestation related to beef production in the region by 15 per cent. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 because many big cattle companies don鈥檛 actually sell internationally and they don鈥檛 have zero-deforestation commitments,鈥� she says.
While the EU is a major buyer for many of the commodities specified by the new law, it isn鈥檛 the only buyer, says Garrett. There is the potential that intermediary companies will simply sell products linked to deforestation to other markets, she says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 really complex reasons why people deforest, and cutting off their market access to one market is not sufficient motivation to stop clearing,鈥� she says.
at the University of Sussex, UK, points to soya bean exports from Brazil, where the EU only buys 10 per cent of the total exports. Most is sold to China, he says. 鈥淭his law could just mean farmers sell more soy to unregulated markets,鈥� he says.
Garrett says companies will also struggle to accurately trace whether the products they buy are linked to deforestation or not. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really hard to trace to individual farms when so many middlemen are involved in a lot of these products,鈥� she says. This is especially challenging for products like soya where beans from different growers are often blended by distributors before being sold to major companies, says Alexander.
The EU Commission says that producers will be required to collect the geographic coordinates of where the commodities they sell were produced. But at the University of Oxford says many farmers around the world don鈥檛 have smartphones to easily do this.
Systemic issues
Even when the EU is a major buyer, the law doesn鈥檛 address the systemic issues that cause deforestation, says McDermott. For example, Ghana is the second biggest producer of cocoa. Most cocoa farming in Ghana is done by small-scale farmers, she says, who only receive about of the value of a chocolate bar.
鈥淚f you have lots of cocoa farms near a forest reserve [which is at risk of deforestation], the easiest thing for a company to do is just draw a big wide circle around the reserve and [say] we won鈥檛 buy from there any more,鈥� she says. These farmers may then simply switch to other environmentally damaging ways to make money, such as gold mining, says McDermott. 鈥淸The law is] simply displacing the problem in a way that鈥檚 potentially very harmful to people that are already on the disadvantaged side of the supply chain,鈥� she says.
From an equity perspective, McDermott says the way the law was drawn up was also problematic. 鈥淎 lot of the countries that are going to be affected by this law were caught on the back foot and only now are consultations happening after the decision has already been made,鈥� she says.
The EU Commission says that the regulation will apply to countries producing these commodities inside the EU as well. It also says it is in dialogue with producer countries to facilitate the implementation of the new law and jointly address the root causes of deforestation and forest degradation.
Garrett says a better solution would be to force companies to pay farmers more and help build up their infrastructure for producing these commodities. 鈥淚f you just try to control deforestation and you don鈥檛 invest in these solutions, I鈥檓 not sure what kind of world that鈥檚 going to get us,鈥� she says.
鈥淭he main driver of deforestation and forest degradation is the expansion of agricultural land which is linked in particular to the production of a series of commodities such as soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa, coffee or rubber,鈥� says an EU Commission spokesperson. 鈥淭he regulation is an opportunity to enhance trade in deforestation-free products and boost opportunities for sustainable actors around the globe.鈥�
