A WORLD FULL OF FORESTS
Forests are indispensable. They cover 30 percent of the earth’s land area and host 80 percent of the world’s land-based species. Forests provide us with fresh water and oxygen, and are essential for regulating the global climate. We want a world with forests, where we can all breathe and enjoy nature as it should be - unspoiled.
BUT DEFORESTATION IS STILL HAPPENING
Forests are being devastated at an alarming rate. Every year, we lose an area of forest about the size of Greece. The main reason is the expansion of agriculture. The EU is responsible for around 10 percent of global deforestation through its consumption of products like soya, beef, palm oil and cocoa.
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- We need healthy forests for our planet’s health and for our own survival. To achieve this, we must stop deforestation now and restore already degraded forests, in the EU and globally.
- The EU must introduce new legislation that stops products linked to the destruction of forests and other ecosystems from ending up on our supermarket shelves.
- Under this legislation, companies must not be able to sell commodities on the EU market if these come from land where natural forests or other ecosystems have been destroyed or degraded, and where their production impacts the rights of indigenous communities.
- To comply with this legislation, operators must be obliged to follow so-called due diligence procedures, meaning they must identify, prevent and mitigate harm across the entire value chain.
- Besides this new law, more measures are needed to protect and restore forests and to tackle the drivers of forest destruction, such as illegal logging and the excessive consumption of meat and dairy products and bioenergy.
Opinion by Anna Cavazzini & Rosa D’Amato & Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg & Heidi Hautala & Tilly Metz & Ville Niinistö & Grace O'Sullivan & Marie Toussaint
Deforestation in the Amazon/ Ana_Cotta S.O.S Amazônia/ Flickr CC BY 2.0
Opinion by Marie Toussaint
Forest/ CC0 timotheus-frobel
Opinion by Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg & Martin Häusling & Ville Niinistö & Marie Toussaint
