Trading deforestation—why the legality of forest-risk commodities is insufficient
Consumer countries and blocs, including the UK and the EU, are defining legal measures to tackle deforestation linked to commodity imports, potentially requiring imported goods to comply with the relevant producer countries’ land-use laws. Nonetheless, this measure is insufficient to address global...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac358d |
| _version_ | 1797747476206190592 |
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| author | Tiago N P dos Reis Vinicius Guidotti de Faria Gabriela Russo Lopes Gerd Sparovek Chris West Raoni Rajão Mariana Napolitano Ferreira Marcelo M S Elvira Raul S T do Valle |
| author_facet | Tiago N P dos Reis Vinicius Guidotti de Faria Gabriela Russo Lopes Gerd Sparovek Chris West Raoni Rajão Mariana Napolitano Ferreira Marcelo M S Elvira Raul S T do Valle |
| author_sort | Tiago N P dos Reis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Consumer countries and blocs, including the UK and the EU, are defining legal measures to tackle deforestation linked to commodity imports, potentially requiring imported goods to comply with the relevant producer countries’ land-use laws. Nonetheless, this measure is insufficient to address global deforestation. Using Brazil’s example of a key exporter of forest-risk commodities, here we show that it has ∼3.25 Mha of natural habitat (storing ∼152.8 million tons of potential CO _2 emissions) at a high risk of legal deforestation until 2025. Additionally, the country’s legal framework is going through modifications to legalize agricultural production in illegally deforested areas. What was illegal may become legal shortly. Hence, a legality criterion adopted by consumer countries is insufficient to protect forests and other ecosystems and may worsen deforestation and conversion risks by incentivizing the weakening of social-environmental protection by producer countries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:51:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b2fb51a301b54bc0a01ae953c882f908 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T15:51:11Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-b2fb51a301b54bc0a01ae953c882f9082023-08-09T15:09:36ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-01161212402510.1088/1748-9326/ac358dTrading deforestation—why the legality of forest-risk commodities is insufficientTiago N P dos Reis0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5256-3978Vinicius Guidotti de Faria1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3639-2101Gabriela Russo Lopes2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0161-6339Gerd Sparovek3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8301-8529Chris West4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5091-6514Raoni Rajão5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1133-4837Mariana Napolitano Ferreira6Marcelo M S Elvira7Raul S T do Valle8Earth and Life Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain , Place Louis Pasteur, 3, bte L4.03.08, Louvain-la-Neuve 1348, Belgium; WWF-Brasil , Brasília-DF, Brazil; Trase, Global Canopy , Oxford, OX1 3HZ, United KingdomInstituto de Manejo e Certificação Florestal e Agrícola (IMAFLORA) , Piracicaba-SP, 13426-420, BrazilCenter for Latin America Research and Documentation (CEDLA), University of Amsterdam (UvA) , 1018 WB Amsterdam, The NetherlandsGeoLab, Universidade de São Paulo (USP) , Piracicaba-SP 13418-900, BrazilStockholm Environment Institute York, Department of Environment and Geography, University of York , York YO10 5NG, United KingdomUniversidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) , Belo Horizonte 31270-901, BrazilWWF-Brasil , Brasília-DF, BrazilWWF-Brasil , Brasília-DF, BrazilWWF-Brasil , Brasília-DF, BrazilConsumer countries and blocs, including the UK and the EU, are defining legal measures to tackle deforestation linked to commodity imports, potentially requiring imported goods to comply with the relevant producer countries’ land-use laws. Nonetheless, this measure is insufficient to address global deforestation. Using Brazil’s example of a key exporter of forest-risk commodities, here we show that it has ∼3.25 Mha of natural habitat (storing ∼152.8 million tons of potential CO _2 emissions) at a high risk of legal deforestation until 2025. Additionally, the country’s legal framework is going through modifications to legalize agricultural production in illegally deforested areas. What was illegal may become legal shortly. Hence, a legality criterion adopted by consumer countries is insufficient to protect forests and other ecosystems and may worsen deforestation and conversion risks by incentivizing the weakening of social-environmental protection by producer countries.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac358dcommodity supply-chainstraded deforestationlegal CO2 emissionsBrazilian Forest Codelegislation requirementsexport-driven agricultural expansion |
| spellingShingle | Tiago N P dos Reis Vinicius Guidotti de Faria Gabriela Russo Lopes Gerd Sparovek Chris West Raoni Rajão Mariana Napolitano Ferreira Marcelo M S Elvira Raul S T do Valle Trading deforestation—why the legality of forest-risk commodities is insufficient Environmental Research Letters commodity supply-chains traded deforestation legal CO2 emissions Brazilian Forest Code legislation requirements export-driven agricultural expansion |
| title | Trading deforestation—why the legality of forest-risk commodities is insufficient |
| title_full | Trading deforestation—why the legality of forest-risk commodities is insufficient |
| title_fullStr | Trading deforestation—why the legality of forest-risk commodities is insufficient |
| title_full_unstemmed | Trading deforestation—why the legality of forest-risk commodities is insufficient |
| title_short | Trading deforestation—why the legality of forest-risk commodities is insufficient |
| title_sort | trading deforestation why the legality of forest risk commodities is insufficient |
| topic | commodity supply-chains traded deforestation legal CO2 emissions Brazilian Forest Code legislation requirements export-driven agricultural expansion |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac358d |
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