Published
Several NGOs denounce the lack of firmness of the European Union to fight once morest deforestation in Brazil.
But the situation in the Amazon has steadily worsened in this country in recent years, especially since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro came to power in 2019.
AFP
Around 30 environmental NGOs in Brazil called on the European Union on Monday to take firm action to combat deforestation, criticizing the “gaps” in a draft EU regulation presented in November.
An open letter signed by 34 organizations, including the Brazilian branch of WWF or the collective Observatoire du Climat, was published ahead of a meeting of environment ministers on Thursday regarding regulations that would ban imports of products from deforested land. This would concern in particular beef, soybeans, palm oil, cocoa or coffee, which Brazil exports massively.
The NGOs believe that this project is “necessary and positive”, but are calling for “improvements” of the text so that it has a real impact on deforestation in Brazil, which is home to 60% of the Amazon forest. “Deforestation must be eradicated if we want to have a chance in the fight once morest global warming”, can we read in the letter.
Highly threatened ecosystems
According to the associations, the European project presented in November defines the term “forest” too vaguely and excludes highly threatened ecosystems in Brazil, such as the Pantanal wetland, the Cerrado savannah or the pampas in the south of the country. They also asked the EU to add more productions to be controlled, such as cotton or maize.
Another request: that the measures concern all the lands of the rural properties, and not only those dedicated to the culture or the breeding for export. According to the associations, the current text would allow that “in large farms, so-called non-deforestation land is reserved for export to Europe, while others would be deforested”.
The situation is getting worse
The NGOs have also called for “assurances” in terms of human rights, in particular with regard to the indigenous peoples threatened with being expelled from their lands by farmers who would like to monopolize them. The EU launched the development of these regulations soon following 141 countries signed the Glasgow Declaration, in which they pledged to halt deforestation.
Brazil was one of the signatories of this declaration, at the beginning of November, during the Climate Summit in Glasgow. But the situation in the Amazon has steadily worsened in this country in recent years, especially since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro came to power in 2019. During his first three years in office, the deforestation there has increased by 75% compared to the annual average of the previous decade.
(AFP)
