Worldwide, large-scale monocrop agriculture is the most significant driver of deforestation. Bulldozers flatten natural landscapes, wiping out wildlife and destroying the forest resources that support millions of people’s livelihoods. Cattle ranches, expansive plantations of oil palm, and soybean farms take over where rainforest used to reign.
Efforts to slow deforestation for commercial agriculture have usually been voluntary and have mostly failed. This is why the European Union’s Regulation on Deforestation-free Products (EUDR) is a necessary departure from the obsolete voluntary model. The EUDR stipulates that, beginning in 2026, cattle, coffee, cocoa, palm oil, rubber, soy, and wood products can only be placed in the European common market if they’re deforestation-free.
A cornerstone of the law’s enforcement will be country risk benchmarking, which the European Commission should complete by June 2025. The Commission is obliged to assign risk levels to countries based on the incidence of deforestation and forest degradation and may also consider human rights risks like labor rights abuses and forced evictions.
Human Rights Watch was one of 40 organizations that urged the Commission to ensure a risk benchmarking system that reflects realities on the ground. In a recent joint letter, we and our partners raised concerns about a recent draft of the benchmarking methodology proposed by the Commission which seems to disregard key risk factors and which appears to stray far from the mandate given by lawmakers.
Benchmarking will determine critical aspects of EUDR enforcement. Customs officials are required to triple the checks on merchandise originating from high-risk areas when they arrive or depart EU shores (EU member states will also be benchmarked). In addition, EU companies will be required to conduct more rigorous due diligence when they buy from high-risk areas.
That’s why it is so crucial that the methodology underpinning benchmarking is based on objective and transparent criteria, as defined in the law. The classification should reflect the environmental and human rights risks in a given location. Faulty benchmarking would create a hole through which tainted products could continue flowing into the EU market.
It’s a make-or-break moment for the EU anti-deforestation law. Benchmarking will determine how robust the implementation will be. And robust implementation is the backbone of an effective law; otherwise, it’s just a piece of paper.
