'EU LAW ON DEFORESTATION: POLICY MAKERS PRIORITISE TREES OVER PEOPLE'

This morning European Union (EU) policymakers finished negotiating a new Regulation that aims to prevent agricultural goods tainted by deforestation from being imported into the EU market. While this is an historic first, the law fails to include strong provisions to protect the land rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, who time and time again have proven to be the best guardians of the forests. 

“For months, Indigenous Peoples from around the world have called on the EU to protect their rights in the Regulation. Last night EU policy makers ignored these pleas – and the overwhelming wishes of EU citizens – and failed to do so. This is a serious omission.

Failing to require companies to ensure that goods are produced in accordance with international human rights laws and respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights means relying on national governments to do so...

By failing to ensure that products placed on the EU market comply will international human rights laws on Indigenous Peoples, the EU has missed the chance to signal to the world that the most important solution to stopping deforestation is upholding Indigenous’ rights,” said Nicole Polsterer, Sustainable Consumption and Production campaigner at Fern.

The European Parliament had voted in September to make respect for international human rights norms and standards on land rights, such as the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), a prerequisite for importing products into the EU. But in the final agreement, although language on FPIC has been added, companies will still only have to verify compliance with such rights if they are enshrined in the relevant legislation of the country of production...

Moreover, the law fails to provide a route for victims to obtain compensation from companies who violate the law...

The law in a nutshell

The Commission had initially proposed that all companies selling beef (including leather), soy, palm oil, timber, coffee and cacao in the EU market should conduct “due diligence” to prove firstly that they are legal, and secondly that they have not caused deforestation or forest degradation after 2020. EU policy makers have added rubber (and derivatives), printed materials and charcoal to that list.

Companies will need to do a different level of due diligence depending on a country’s risk rating. The Commission proposes assigning a high, medium or low rating to producer countries... It wouldn’t consider human rights violations though, which means companies would only need to conduct low levels of due diligence on goods coming from some countries where land grabs are still happening...