Soy producers label the EU’s ‘protectionist’ plan against deforestation

The European Union’s proposal to ban the import of certain products that favor deforestation is “trade protectionism disguised as an environmental concern”, the Brazilian Association of Soy Producers (Aprosoja Brasil) said on Tuesday (23).

The proposed legislation, presented by the European Commission on November 17, “is an affront to national sovereignty and places the conversion of land use permitted by law in the same common grave as illegal deforestation, which is already punished by Brazilian environmental legislation”, criticized the association in a statement.

“The European Union needs to understand that they are no longer the metropolis of the world and that Brazil and other countries in South America are no longer its colonies”, stressed the association.

And he added: “If Europeans are concerned about our forests, they could take advantage of the quality of their land to also replant their forests and establish as here the legal reserve and permanent protection areas within rural properties”, referring to the obligation to preserve between 20% and 80% of the native vegetation provided for in the Brazilian forest code.

The EU has proposed banning the importation of wood and other products — such as soy, beef, vegetable oil, cocoa and coffee — that contribute to deforestation, an initiative that environmental NGOs want to be extended to other sectors.

The plan, which will be debated next year by EU member states and MEPs, would require companies interested in exporting to prove that their products are certified as “free from deforestation”.

These rules could affect countries like Brazil, at a time when European concern about the increase in deforestation in the Amazon region is delaying the adoption of the trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur.

Last week, INPE (National Institute for Space Research) released new data on deforestation in the Amazon, according to which, between August 2020 and July 2021, the forest lost 13,235 km² of vegetation cover, an increase of 22% compared to the previous period and the worst index in the last 15 years.

This is the third annual increase in deforestation in the Amazon during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, which calls into question Brazil’s promise to reverse this trend and eliminate illegal deforestation by 2028, made by the government during COP26.