THE EUROPEAN UNION AGAINST GLOBAL DEFORESTATION

Humanity has always agreed on this: environmental conservation is everyone’s responsibility. However, over the decades, only a few countries have made a real commitment to stop the environmental footprint that humans leave behind.

On this occasion, the European Union assumes the commitment and decides to face the gigantic loss of forest mass that its economic activity has caused in its own territory and throughout the world.

In the midst of a debate that lasted until the wee hours of the morning, the Council of EU member countries and the European Parliament itself reached an agreement to provisionally establish a strict law that regulates the importation of products whose manufacture has contributed to the deforestation.

 

GLOBAL DEFORESTATION: HOW WILL THIS PROVISIONAL LAW WORK?

As proposed by the Parliament and the Council of the EU, the objective is to encourage more and more companies to stop commercial activities that cause deforestation. The idea is to make an impact both on the European continent and around the world, forcing companies to be environmentally responsible in order to have a place in the largest and most prosperous economy: food and raw materials.

In force since December 6, this law prevents the importation of products whose manufacture has as a direct consequence internal or external deforestation of the European Union. Starting this month, producers will have 18 months to abide by and implement these new standards in their production devices.

Regarding small companies, they will have a slightly greater range for their adaptation, understanding the cost and effort involved in a structural change of this type that, although necessary, implies a strong internal cost for them.

The European Union has established that, to guarantee compliance with the standard, a verification process will be established through the geolocation of crops using satellite technology.

At the moment, specific products will work under this legislation: soybeans, wood, palm, rubber, cocoa, coffee, cattle and other bovine derivatives, such as leather. Products derived from these raw materials, such as printed paper, furniture, cosmetics and chocolates, will also be taken into account.

To be sold completely openly and without regulations, each of these products must have the “due diligence” seal granted to companies that duly comply with the aforementioned law.

 

THE ORIGIN OF THE PROBLEM

Although the European Union is one of the most powerful alliances in the world, why take such a radical role in the problem of deforestation?

According to reports from the WWF (Acronym in English for ‘World Wide Fund for Nature’), its territory is responsible for 16% of all global deforestation and is the second largest destroyer of tropical forests. This, of course, due to its indiscriminate import market tukif.

The already marked damage that this economy causes to the planet has been increased in recent years, in addition, due to the increase in consumption and demand for food worldwide, collapsing the agricultural infrastructure.

And you, what do you think of these measures? Do you think that the actions of the European Union will be enough by themselves to make a difference and reverse the damage that human beings have caused to the environment?

 

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