Germany joins resistance to EU anti-deforestation law 13/09/2024

Illegal deforestation has been rampant in the Amazon (MICHAEL DANTAS) (MICHAEL DANTAS/AFP/AFP)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Germany joins resistance to EU anti-deforestation law

Umberto BACCHI

Pressure on the European Union increased on Friday to postpone a ban on the import of products that cause deforestation, after Germany became the latest country to ask for the rules to be postponed.

Berlin asked the European Commission to postpone implementation by six months, until July 1, 2025, saying that the lack of clarity on the main aspects of the law meant that the conditions were not yet in place for it to be applied efficiently.

“Companies need enough time to prepare,” said German food and agriculture minister Cem Oezdemir.

“Otherwise, supply chains risk breaking down at the end of the year, to the detriment of the German and European economies, small farmers in third countries, and consumers.”

EU imports are responsible for 16% of global deforestation, according to WWF data.

Forests absorb carbon and are a vital ally in the fight against climate change. They are also essential for the survival of endangered plants and animals such as orangutans and lowland gorillas.

The EU law, which will come into force at the end of December, will ban a wide range of products - from coffee to cocoa, soy, timber, palm oil, cattle, printing paper, and rubber - if they are produced on land that has been deforested after December 2020.

The measure has been hailed by environmental groups as a breakthrough in the fight to protect nature and the climate.

But detractors say it imposes a heavy burden on farmers and businesses.

The largest group in the European Parliament, the center-right European People's Party, described it as a “bureaucratic monster”.

On Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the regulation needed to be “practicable”.

- Environmental battle

Berlin's request comes in the context of negotiations between the EU and the South American bloc Mercosur for a free trade agreement - a plan championed by Germany.

Critics see the anti-deforestation law as a major obstacle to reaching an agreement.

Outside the EU, Brazil became the latest country to call for a reassessment this week.

The country said the “punitive” legislation increased production and export costs, especially for smallholders.

The United States, as well as Asian, African, and other Latin American countries, have raised similar concerns.

In the last century, the Amazon rainforest, which covers almost 40% of South America, has lost around 20% of its area to deforestation, due to the advance of agriculture and cattle ranching, logging and mining, and urban sprawl.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has promised to end illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, but he faces a series of vested interests.

“We know from the start that this is a battle that affects very large economic interests,” said Pascal Canfin, from the centrist Renew group in the European Parliament.

The EU imports 15 billion euros (16.6 billion dollars) worth of agricultural raw materials responsible for deforestation - mainly soybeans - from Brazil every year, he said.

“That's exactly the problem we want to solve,” he added.

Other parties within the EU complain that the bloc has yet to clarify how the rules will work in practice.

A diplomatic source told AFP that the compliance guidelines promised by the European Commission - the EU's executive arm - are still pending, as is a clear benchmarking system to divide countries into different risk categories.

In an interview with The Financial Times on Thursday, the head of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, called on the EU to “reassess” the ban.

- 'Grave danger' - you

The EU is the second largest market for the targeted products, after China.

Companies that import the goods in question into the EU from 27 countries will be responsible for tracing their supply chains to prove that the products did not originate from deforested areas, based on geolocation and satellite data.

Exporting countries considered high risk would have at least nine percent of products sent to the EU subject to checks, with the proportion dropping for lower-risk countries.

Talk of a delay has worried environmental groups.

“Last year, the world lost an area of forest almost as big as Switzerland,” said Nicole Polsterer of the NGO Fern.

“The debate about postponing the law carries the danger of abandoning it altogether, as some are determined to do.”

Other advocacy groups point out that many companies and countries are already well advanced in the task of complying with the new rules.

A postponement would require a new legislative initiative from the commission, whose new team is due to be presented next week, after the European elections in June.

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