More than 250 representatives of producing countries and consuming products linked to deforestation, including NGOs and indigenous populations, gathered in London to discuss how to reduce deforestation linked to palm oil, soya, meat and coffee supply chains, cocoa and rubber.
The opportunity was offered by the implementation of the new European Regulation on deforestation, approved by the European Parliament. According to the new law, companies will be able to sell in the EU market only products whose supplier has issued a due diligence declaration certifying that the product does not come from deforested land and has not contributed to forest degradation, after 31 December 2020.
Due diligence involves geolocalization of production areas, a risk study and its mitigation. If the risk is not negligible, the products cannot be sold in Europe. It seems easy but it is actually very complex to implement.
I joined technical tables on cocoa and coffee, palm oil and leather that will be subject to deforestation risk assessment.
After two days of intense work and dialogue on the challenges that the application of the European regulation poses, some possible solutions emerged.
How to track production, often fragmented into small productions, far from collection and consumption centers?
Among the options, it gained consensus the use of a QR Code that identifies the perimeter of the cultivation area and changes in land use.
If this can be an excellent tool for soya production, as in Brazil, and palm oil, in Indonesia, concentrated in large plots, it is much more complex for productions such as coffee in Papua New Guinea and cocoa in Ghana, fragmented among several small farmers.
The origin and quality of the data, its accuracy, its access and ownership, costs, will be crucial elements in the implementation.
There was shared agreement that growers and farmers are the owners of data, as a fundamental element of economic and social equity.
It is not yet clear how the costs of the new regulation will be distributed, but there was shared agreement that they should not fall on the farming communities.
Specific incentives could be provided to support traceable and transparent supply chains. International finance through green bonds, donors, national incentives can be among the mechanisms to be adopted to finance the costs of implementation, especially in producing countries and traceable supply chains.
During the plenaries and thematic discussions, I listened to and met influential, charismatic and highly committed women who will play a key role on various fronts.
Among these, Robie Halip, representative for the human rights of the Philippine indigenous populations, Kathy Ortiz of the Ecuadorian association Pro Amazonìa which works with forest farmers: women will have a key role in the implementation of the Regulation.
Tackling deforestation also represents a unique opportunity to share the benefits with agricultural communities and small farmers.
Reducing deforestation together with a reduction in forest degradation and greater transparency on prices paid to small farmers will also guarantee better living conditions for native populations who traditionally depend on the forest.
