The Fairtrade Foundation is launching a petition calling on the UK government to stop its new deforestation law from imposing more prices on farmers. This precedes the secondary law of the Environment Act which is expected to be presented to Parliament this year and which will give more information on deforestation.
The UK has enacted laws and taken measures to address deforestation in source chains related to domestic consumption or commercial activities, such as the EUDR Regulation, which affects cocoa and other commodities, including palm oil, beef, leather and soy.
Companies with an annual global turnover of more than £50 million (USD 63 million) and that buy more than 500 tonnes of those products each year can use them if they come from illegally farmed land. These corporations will also be required to adopt and report annually on their origin chain due diligence for transparency.
UK Environment Secretary Steve Barclay laid out his priorities for forests and nature at COP28 in Dubai.
“I find it heartbreaking how illegal deforestation destroys the habitats of tigers, jaguars, orangutans and many other endangered species, and I know that many other people around the world feel the same way. Globally, we are wasting forests equivalent to the length of approximately 30 football fields every minute,” he said.
Gemma Hoskins, senior director of environmental campaign organisation Mighty Earth in the UK, has criticised the UK’s priorities, saying Britain may simply be a dumping ground for produce grown on legally deforested land, as the secondary law only covers illegal deforestation.
“This new UK law does not deliver on its promise to ‘beat the world’ made through the UK government at COP26. By failing to deliver on the EUDR’s ambition to end legal and illegal deforestation, the UK government has exposed UK chains to continued threat. of exposure to deforestation-related products that end up on our supermarket shelves,” he said.
The EU and UK measures potentially require imported goods to comply with the land use legislation of the applicable generating countries. However, legality is considered inadequate to comprehensively address global deforestation.
For example, by considering Brazil as the main exporter of forest-threatening products, it has been shown that a legality criterion followed by client countries such as the UK and the EU is inadequate to protect forests and other ecosystems. What used to be illegal may soon be legal, suggesting the need for stricter measures, beyond legality, to combat deforestation well.
Fairtrade’s petition also calls on the UK government to deliver on its climate finance commitments. He said in a statement: “The new regulation will require giant corporations to prove that they are not loading products from illegal forest lands. While Fairtrade believes that the deforestation law will be a very important step in addressing environmental damage in our supply chains, the adoption of a strong producer-centric law.
“This means that it will have to be designed and implemented in a way that ensures that smallholder farmers and staff do not bear the prices and burdens of compliance. “
Alexander Carnwath, Head of Public Affairs at the Fairtrade Foundation, said: “So far, the Government has failed to deliver on its £11. 6 billion monetary commitment to the communities most affected by climate change. And the £500 million investment pledged at COP26 to take the money earmarked for deforestation has yet to be disbursed.
“The UK wants to deliver on its promises, make sure smallholder farmers have a say in how this money is spent, and help farmers build forests and build a fairer future. “
Jaime Alberto García Flórez, a Fair Trade coffee and cocoa farmer in Colombia, said: “We, the farmers, are the first to feel and combat climate change. If we leave something for our children, we want to take action now to mitigate the effects. “of climate change.