After pressure from the Brazilian government and countries like Indonesia and the Ivory Coast, the European Commission presented a proposal on Wednesday (2) to postpone the anti-deforestation law, which was due to come into force in December of this year.
The European Union Regulation for Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR), determines that European importers must ensure that imported products do not come from areas deforested after December 31, 2020.
The new law affects products from the coffee, soy, palm oil, wood, leather, beef, cocoa and rubber production chains. Estimates say it will affect 15% of all Brazilian exports and 34% of Brazilian exports to the European Union, according to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services.
In a statement published on its website, the ministry argues that the law lacks clarity and adequate regulation. The commission's proposal suggests a postponement to December 2025 for products exported by large companies, and to June 2026 for micro and small companies. The EU Parliament and Council will analyze the request.
According to the Climate Observatory, the possible postponement represents a “shameful step backwards." To refute the European Commission's proposal, 25 civil society organizations signed a letter entitled “Every second counts to protect global forests and ecosystems.”
The document argues that Brazil is a pioneer in monitoring natural ecosystems and land use, which has been done regularly by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE, in Portuguese) since 1988. Furthermore, the country is also a reference in public and private traceability of initiatives for agricultural chains, which the soy and livestock sectors have been carrying out in the Amazon since 2006 and 2009, respectively.
According to the Climate Observatory, only 3% of the properties ed in the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR, in Portuguese) had deforestation between 2019 and 2022. The data was collected from the Mapbiomas platform. “Therefore, almost all rural landowners in Brazil have nothing to lose from the anti-deforestation EU legislation. On the contrary, they have a market to gain compared to international competitors who deforest,” says the observatory.
The letter highlights the urgency of measures to curb deforestation. “At a time when most of Brazil's territory is affected by smoke from wildfires in almost every biome, it is regrettable that the implementation of the EUDR is being postponed,” says Dinamam Tuxá, executive coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB, in Portuguese), one of the organizations that is part of the Climate Observatory.
“We consider the regulation a fundamental and additional tool for reducing deforestation in the country. The decision is a clear demonstration of the agribusiness lobby's defiance of democratic decision-making processes, making it impossible for countries to fulfill their global commitments under the Paris Agreement,” he laments.
