Print Magazine
Brussels Morning Newspaper
Sunday, January 29, 2023
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
    • About Us
  • EU institutions
    • Commission
    • Parliament
    • Council
  • Europe
  • World
  • Economy
  • Culture and Society
  • In Depth
    • Ambassador’s Corner
    • The American Angle
    • Sustainable Perspective
    • Europe With Transparency
    • Place de la Bourse
    • The Macro-Economist
    • Southeast Europe
Brussels Morning Newspaper
  • Home
    • About Us
  • EU institutions
    • Commission
    • Parliament
    • Council
  • Europe
  • World
  • Economy
  • Culture and Society
  • In Depth
    • Ambassador’s Corner
    • The American Angle
    • Sustainable Perspective
    • Europe With Transparency
    • Place de la Bourse
    • The Macro-Economist
    • Southeast Europe
Brussels Morning Newspaper
No Result
View All Result
Home Opinion

VPAs, the EU’s crown jewel, are indispensable for fighting global deforestation

Heidi Hautala by Heidi Hautala
4 May 2021
in Opinion
VPAs, the EU’s crown jewel, are indispensable for fighting global deforestation
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Expand the remit of VPAs to reach climate change and biodiversity targets, writes Heidi Hautala MEP.

Brussels (Brussels Morning) In order to reach the internationally agreed climate and biodiversity goals, the earth’s carbon sinks, the forests cover, must be preserved and increased, giving us a few more years to reach our objectives.

The EU has high ambitions and is developing measures to eradicate deforestation from the value chains of companies placing products on EU markets. This is a crucial step forward. EU consumption corresponds to 10% of global deforestation. 

However, it is not enough that the EU cleans its own market. Deforestation is not simply about the environment. It is a holistic issue intrinsically linked to human rights — land rights, indigenous peoples’ rights, poverty — and good governance. 

Deforestation is a systemic issue which requires a full array of tools. 

Robust framework

Good governance and transparency are prerequisites for solving the issue of deforestation. However, strengthening good governance in a resource rich partner country is a difficult task. 

The EU has created an innovative, and to date one of the only effective tools for progress. 

The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan was launched in 2003. A key tool of the Action Plan are the trade agreements for boosting trade in legally sourced timber, the Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs). 

VPAs’ ground breaking results have arisen from tackling corruption, strengthening law enforcement, and ensuring civil society and community participation in decision making. One major advantage of the VPAs is that they do not restrict themselves to timber products exported to the EU. FLEGT helps clean the whole forest sector in a partner country regardless of whether the production goes for domestic use or for export to any global destination. 

Expanding remits

However, FLEGT is meant to address illegal deforestation in the timber sector only. A vast amount of deforestation is legal and happens especially through the expansion of agricultural production. 

Without sacrificing the achievements of VPA FLEGT the EU should now upgrade the FLEGT Action Plan so that it addresses not just legality but also sustainability. But let us repeat, legality is fundamental and it would be counterproductive to throw the baby out with the bath water. 

The FLEGT scope could be enlarged from trade in timber to include agricultural products. Beef, soy, cocoa and palm oil are among the biggest drivers of deforestation. 

The lesson of FLEGT is that without work towards transformative changes in the production countries, it will not be possible to reach the objective of halting the loss of forest cover.

Cocoa case study

An excellent pilot project for approaching this systemic issue and deploying the full range of tools is the EU Multistakeholder Dialogue on Sustainable Cocoa. It brings all actors and stakeholders around cocoa to the table and takes advantage of different levels and forms of cooperation. 

The envisaged outcome is to have measures directed in a way to share the burden equally among farmers, producer countries, companies along the value chain, and the EU. To achieve this, three commissioners are working hand in hand. This pilot could be replicated commodity by commodity. 

The EU is the biggest development donor in the world and can help its partner countries towards sustainability along the lines of its Green Deal. The EU is already determined to put in place due diligence obligations on companies. These can be accompanied by upgraded partnerships in order to fight against global deforestation. 

They could be based on the extended FLEGT model.

These views are those of the author and not the editorial team at Brussels Morning. 

Tags: Brussels DirectMain-SliderMEP
Facebook Twitter Youtube LinkedIn

About Us

Brussels Morning is a daily online newspaper based in Belgium. BM publishes unique and independent coverage on international and European affairs. With a Europe-wide perspective, BM covers policies and politics of the EU, significant Member State developments, and looks at the international agenda with a European perspective.

Category

  • Ambassador’s Corner
  • Belgium News
  • Brussels
  • Commission
  • Council
  • Culture and Society
  • Diplomacy
  • Economy
  • EU Institutions
  • Europe
  • Europe With Transparency
  • Features
  • Health & Fitness
  • In Depth
  • Member States
  • Middle East Eye
  • Opinion
  • Our pick
  • Parliament
  • Place de la Bourse
  • Southeast Europe
  • Sustainable Perspective
  • The American Angle
  • The Macro-Economist
  • Uncategorised
  • US Elections
  • World

More info

  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Cookies Policy
  • Contact Us
  • FAQ
  • Jobs

Brussels Morning Newspaper - All Rights Reserved © 2020

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Brussels Bubble
    • Parliament
    • Commission
    • Council
  • Wider Europe
    • Member States
  • World
  • Business & Society
  • Europe With Transparency
  • Culture & Society
  • Policy Talks
    • Place de la Bourse
    • The Macro-Economist
    • Sustainable Perspective
    • Ambassador’s Corner
    • The American Angle
    • Southeast Europe
  • Print Magazine

Brussels Morning Newspaper - All Rights Reserved © 2020

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT