Publications

Briefing Notes

Why the EU Deforestation Regulation won’t sugar coat the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement

In June 2019, after more than 20 years of tortuous negotiations, a bilateral trade agreement was agreed between the European Union (EU) and the Mercosur bloc of nations - Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay (European Union...

20/04/2023

Briefing Notes

Es más que solo comercio

A finales de octubre de 2022, el pueblo brasileño votó en contra del Presidente Bolsonaro y eligió a Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Los defensores del acuerdo de libre comercio entre la Unión Europea (UE) y el Mercosur confían en que...

01/02/2023

Reports

A Deforestation and Rights Observatory

A case study from Brazil

How the European Union can best integrate deforestation and rights violations data in its regulatory proposals

15/12/2021

Reports

What can the EU Forest and Rights Observatory learn from Brazil?

An EU Forest Observatory could play an important role in monitoring deforestation, human rights violations, and land use in supply chains of products and commodities such as soybeans and beef.

This summary report looks at what can be learnt from Brazil’s efforts and concludes with recommendations for the EU, including how to enforce the future Regulation on deforestation-free products.

15/12/2021

Fern position on the EU-Mercosur agreement

This EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement will increase trade in the agricultural products that are the main drivers of deforestation in South America. This is opposite of what needs to happen for the EU to achieve its commitments to...

27/01/2021

Briefing Notes

Measuring the impact of the EU-Mercosur Trade deal on land use, forests, and the people who depend on them.

Ultimately, the impacts of trade agreements reverberate in local communities, in the individual lives of women, men and children, and in the destruction of the unique areas of forest and habitats which surround them. 

This...

02/12/2020

NGO Statements

Direct threat to Indigenous territories of Mato Grosso and Brazil

Cuiabá, June, 22nd 2020 

Civil society organisations are concerned about Brazilian State Bill 17/2020, proposed by the governor of Mato Grosso, Mauro Mendes. Contradicting the federal legislation, this Bill authorises the...

26/06/2020

Briefing Notes

The EU-Mercosur trade agreement: What is it, and what could it mean for forests and human rights?

In June 2019 the European Union (EU) and Mercosur (Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay) announced that they had reached an ‘in principle’ agreement on the content of a bilateral trade agreement which they had been negotiating,...

02/06/2020

NGO Statements

Plea to address EU complicity in the Amazon fires

On August 29, twenty-six NGOs, have sent an open letter to European leaders urging them to end European complicity in the fires raging in the Amazon. 

NGOs believe the EU can act decisively in two ways.

    1. Suspend...

29/08/2019

NGO Statements

Joint Letter on the EU Mercosur Agreement - The Details

On June 18, 340+ civil society organizations wrote to call on the European Union to use its influence to prevent a worsening human rights and environmental situation in Brazil.

18/06/2019