Tackling deforestation through EU due diligence: lessons and proposals from Brazil
1 octubre 2020

The webinar discussed how to trace Brazilian agricultural exports to the EU and how a deforestation and land rights observatory could help EU companies perform due diligence to remove deforestation and human rights violations from their supply chains.
Background:
About a third of soya consumed in the EU comes from Brazil and 10 per cent of all Brazilian beef is exported to the EU. Trase’s unique data sets reveal the soy and beef deforestation risk associated with EU imports. A recent peer-reviewed Science article provided the first property-level analysis linking beef and soy production with deforestation in the Cerrado and Amazon, two of the most threatened biomes in Brazil. Building upon Trase’s commodity flows data, the study found that roughly 20 per cent of soya exports and at least 17 per cent of beef exports from Brazil to the EU may be contaminated with illegal deforestation.
Commodity imports are set to accelerate under the Mercosur Free Trade Agreement between the EU and the South American bloc of nations which include Brazil, which was finalised in June 2019. If agreed, the deal will allow 99,000 tonnes of beef to be exported to the EU tariff-free. Likewise, if China and the US’ new trade agreement is implemented, a larger quantity of Brazilian soy currently exported to Asia is likely to be sold to the EU instead.
The EU is currently considering regulatory measures to tackle deforestation in its supply chains, and the European Commission is conducting an impact assessment of regulatory and non-regulatory measures for stepping up EU action to protect the world’s forests. To feed into these processes, Fern, Trase and the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) are organising a webinar to present the latest data about EU consumption of Brazil’s key commodities. We will also discuss political will and the conditions and tools needed to exclude deforestation and human rights violations from EU supply chains.
- Reporting by economic magazine, Valor on the issues discussed during the webinar in Portuguese.
Watch the video of the event in Portuguese or German.
Presentations
Introduction, Nicole Polsterer, from Fern
A journey through the Amazon and the Cerrado.
- Victor Moriyama, a Brazilian photojournalist, presents new images and share his testimony of fire hotspots and destruction linked to soy plantations from a recent field study done for Rainforest Foundation Norway.
Key Speakers:
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Ms Maria Noichl, Member of the European Parliament, S&D Group
- Need for stronger and better EU legislation on deforestation and agricultural imports -
Ms Helen Bellfield, Trase Lead at Global Canopy
- Latest figures of deforestation and soy and beef exports from Brazil to the EU -
Mr Raoni Rajão, Professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and lead author of “Rotten Apples of Brazil’s Agribusiness”
- The limits of private certifications and the need of a transparent supply chain observatory -
Ms Adriana Ramos, Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), Brazil
- Need for supply chain observatory on tenure and human rights -
Mr Zé Silva, Member of Parliament, Brazil
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Mr Fabiano Contarato, Senator, Brazil
Initial reactions:
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Mr Paulo Pianez Junior, Marfrig
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Mr Nicolae Stefanuta, Member of the European Parliament, Shadow Rapporteur on “An EU legal framework to halt and reverse EU-driven global deforestation", Renew Group
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Ms Lisa Kirfel-Rühle, Deputy Head of Division - International Agricultural Policy, Agriculture, Innovation, BMZ, Germany
Q&A