VSConsumption by the European Union threatens to devastate carbon-rich ecosystems that are not included in measures to combat climate change and biodiversity loss outside the region’s borders, according to WWF.
More than half of South America’s Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse savannah, has been cleared largely because of soybean and beef production, with the EU responsible for 19% of local beef. Other ecosystems such as Argentina’s Chaco, Sumatra’s peatland and the Central Cuvette in the Democratic Republic of Congo have also been affected by the bloc’s demand for palm oil, timber and other commodities, the group said in a statement. report released on Tuesday.
An EU measure proposed last year is designed to curb forest destruction spurred by consumption in the bloc. Companies should collect the geographical coordinates of the origin of their products and national authorities should ensure that only products considered free of deforestation enter the market. Products covered include soybeans, beef, palm oil, timber, cocoa and coffee, as well as certain derivative products such as chocolate, leather and furniture.
The risk is that by focusing on forest-dominated areas, the EU could inadvertently encourage producers to move their operations to other valuable ecosystems.
WWF and other conservationists want the EU to include ecosystems such as savannahs, grasslands, peatlands and wetlands in the law. Europe is the second largest importer of deforestation and its associated emissions after China, according to the WWF report.
“The European Commission’s wait-and-see attitude is an inadequate response to the dizzying rate at which these ecosystems are being destroyed,” said Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, forest policy officer at WWF’s European Policy Office. “In times of climate emergency and accelerating species loss, the EU cannot turn a blind eye to the loss of natural ecosystems beyond forests.”
At the COP26 climate change talks in Glasgow, Scotland last year, 100 countries representing 85% of the world’s forests pledged to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. Worldwide, an area of forest the size of 27 football pitches is lost every minute, according to the UK
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