Why EUDR?
The EUDR, the European regulation against deforestation and forest degradation, aims, as its name suggests, to put in place regulations to ensure that products placed into the European Union market do not contribute to forest degradation or deforestation. This desire on the part of the European Parliament, Council and Commission stems from a number of factors, all of which have one central element: the importance of forests.
The inclusion of forests in these regulations stems from recognition of the role they play in economic, social and environmental terms. Forests fulfil essential environmental functions. They are a haven for biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services, including water and soil purification, oxygen production and CO2 capture, water storage and groundwater recharge. Moreover, the ecosystem services provided by forests are essential to human activities, since they provide income and livelihoods for a third of the world's population, and contribute directly and indirectly to half of global GDP.
So, in view of the current biodiversity crisis, exacerbated by the consequences of climate change, the refuges that forests represent are of paramount importance. The fight against environmental degradation, climate change and the repercussions these phenomena can have on biodiversity is embodied in the need to protect the forests and ecosystems they shelter.
Given the importance of forests in combating the deleterious effects of climate change, the European Union recognizes the part it plays in global deforestation through its consumption. FAO estimates give an idea of the scale of the phenomenon: every year, 10 million hectares of forest are lost worldwide, an area more than 3 times the size of Belgium. As for the EU, its share of responsibility, through its consumption, is estimated at 248,000 hectares/year, an area similar to that of Luxembourg.
With the introduction of this new regulation, the EU is committed to reducing its environmental footprint, while helping to combat climate change and biodiversity loss. By enacting a law to combat deforestation, the EU's representative bodies have decided to set up a legislative framework aimed at regulating the marketing in Europe of products considered to be the main generators of deforestation, by integrating the principle of Due Diligence and geolocation of the origin of products.
In the next article, we'll look in more detail at the products concerned, the concerns they raise for the EU, and their integration into the EUDR.