UK (Common Wealth) _ The secondary legislation to the Environment Act 2021, which is anticipated soon, would see the UK falling behind the European Union’s new, world-beating zero-deforestation regulation, as UK legislation will likely only cover illegal deforestation for commodities such as soy imports.
The ground-breaking new European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which takes effect on June 29th, covers both illegal and legal deforestation for imports of seven key forest-risk commodities, which means When the EUDR takes effect, the UK might become a dumping site for soy cultivated on deforested land, which is acceptable under Brazilian law but is not permitted to enter European markets.
Soy is recognized as a key driver of deforestation in vulnerable biomes in Brazil and elsewhere, accounting for approximately 90% of the UK’s soy imports. Traceability is also a major issue in soy supply chains, as soy grown on legally deforested land is mingled with soybeans grown on unlawfully deforested land, a practice known as ‘grain laundering.’
The warning details the damage that soy and meat production pose to the Cerrado savannah in central Brazil, as well as proof of recent massive deforestation related to US commodities trader Bunge. We discovered 11,351 hectares of recent deforestation on farms in the Cerrado, which is roughly the size of Manchester.
Between January and May 2023, deforestation in the vulnerable Cerrado savannah reached a record high of 353,200 hectares, and the enormous, biodiversity-rich, but mainly unprotected environment has become a global hotspot for soy-related deforestation.
Major European supermarkets such as Carrefour and Casino in France, Ahold Delhaize in the Netherlands, and Aldi Süd in Germany have initiated investigations. Cooperl, France’s largest pork producer, has abandoned Bunge from their soy supply chains.
It follows a recent investigation that linked poultry and pork products sold in Tesco in the UK to unlawful deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon to cultivate soy.
As a climate champion and global leader in protecting the world’s forests and nature, the UK must act quickly to prevent it from becoming a dumping ground for deforestation-linked soy grown in threatened biomes such as Brazil’s Cerrado, where up to 80% of the land can be ‘legally’ deforested under local laws.”
If we are to save the Cerrado and mitigate climate change, the UK’s Environment Act must equal the ambition of the EU’s zero-deforestation regulation. The UK played a major role in galvanizing global support for a landmark pact to conserve the world’s forests two years ago at COP26 in Glasgow, but this legacy is being undercut by weak UK law.
