"Support solidifies for an EU due diligence regulation", 13 Nov 2019

NGOs’ campaign to reduce the European Union’s global forest footprint hit a new milestone on Tuesday, 5 November 2019, when the chairs of the European Parliament’s committees on environment (ENVI), international trade (INTA) and human rights (DROI) all called for a new EU regulation to tackle global deforestation...

Vice President of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala as well as INTA Chair Bernd Lange, DROI Chair Maria Arena, representatives from the companies Mars and Lush, and NGOs all made the case for an EU-wide Due Diligence Regulation. This would require companies to ensure full transparency regarding their supply chains in order to monitor, address and mitigate any of their imports’ negative impacts on forests or human rights...

Francinara Baré, an indigenous leader from the Amazon, stressed the key role of Indigenous Peoples in protecting the world’s forests, and urged EU policymakers to focus on land rights when designing the proposed regulation.

Representatives of the European Commission, Fern and Côte d’Ivoire insisted that the EU shouldn’t develop solutions unilaterally; strong partnerships with producer countries must be put in place in order to address the root causes of deforestation.

The ENVI Committee will now work on specific recommendations for regulation in a new report...