They ask the EU to ban imports from Brazil linked to deforestation

Dozens of Brazil-based environmental organizations on Monday urged the European Union (EU) to pass legislation banning all imports linked to deforestation, criticizing “gaps” in a bill.

The letter from the 34 organizations comes as EU environment ministers prepare to meet on Thursday to discuss a proposal banning products that encourage deforestation, which would impose controls on imports of beef, soy, palm oil, cocoa and coffee.

The organizations said the draft proposal is “necessary and positive,” but it needs “improvements” to have a real impact on deforestation in exporting countries such as Brazil, home to 60% of the Amazon rainforest and a leading exporter of many of those products.

“Deforestation and the conversion of natural ecosystems must be eradicated if humanity wants the opportunity to stabilize global warming,” says the letter, signed by groups including the Brazil office of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Climate Observatory and The Nature Conservancy.

The EU is among the first to draft such legislation since 141 countries signed the so-called Glasgow Declaration, a commitment to “stop and reverse” deforestation by 2030.

Brazil was one of the signatories of the voluntary commitment, launched at the UN climate summit last November. But deforestation has increased in the country in recent years, especially under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro.

Since the far-right, who has the agricultural sector as one of its main supporters, took office in 2019, average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has increased by more than 75% compared to the previous decade.

NGOs said the draft plan, presented in November, defines “forests” too restrictively and excludes most of several key ecosystems in Brazil, including wetlands in the Pantanal, the Cerrado savannah and the Pampas lowlands, they said.

They also urged EU officials to add more items to the list of products to be controlled, such as cotton, corn and canned meat, and ensure that the measures are applied to entire farms, not just part of them.

“On large farms, a landlord can maintain a production area free of deforestation for export to Europe and another area for deforestation,” they said.

They also called for “strong guarantees” on human rights, in particular to ensure that agribusiness does not expel indigenous peoples from their lands.

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