What’s the problem?
Clearing land for agriculture is the world’s biggest driver of deforestation, and the EU bears significant responsibility. The EU is the second biggest importer of agricultural goods which cause deforestation - much of it illegal. An area of forest the size of Portugal was lost globally between 1990 and 2005 because of EU consumption of commodities grown on deforested land. But the EU’s imports of these 'forest-risk commodities' - such as soy, palm oil, beef, cocoa and leather - don’t just drive deforestation, they fuel human rights abuses, from child labour to land grabs.
