225 NGOs call on EU to reject delay to deforestation law

A group of 225 global NGOs from more than 40 countries has issued a statement urging the European Parliament and EU governments to reject a proposal that would delay the implementation of the EU’s ambitious anti-deforestation law by a year. The collective statement, titled “Hands off the EU deforestation regulation!,” noted that the law was adopted democratically, “with a record level of public engagement and support.” It added that delaying its implementation would undermine “the EU’s credibility as a global leader in the fight against climate change, biodiversity loss and human rights violations.” “Delaying action against deforestation means letting down millions of European citizens who have been calling for this law and countless businesses and small farmers — including those outside the EU — who have strongly supported it and made significant investments to comply with it on time,” Michael Rice, from the environmental law group ClientEarth, said in a statement. The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is a first-of-its-kind law requiring forest-related products that are sold in the EU market to be deforestation-free. The law mandates that producers and companies exporting timber, beef, palm oil, soy, coffee, cocoa and rubber products to the EU must ensure their commodities don’t originate from land deforested after Dec. 31, 2020. Compliance includes actions like sharing geolocation coordinates to trace the origin of the commodities. The EUDR was scheduled to go into force from Dec. 30, 2024, but faced opposition from several countries, including Brazil, China, India and the U.S., as well as pressure from industries.…This article was originally published on Mongabay