Amazon rainforest deforestation and destruction are hitting records. It is urgently time for stricter European Union legislation on deforestation, say about 195,000 concerned citizens.
“People don’t want their consumption to contribute to deforestation or the destruction of savannas and grasslands,” said Béatrice Wedeux, policy officer and deforestation expert at WWF Belgium. As part of the Together4Forests campaign, she calls for change. The European Parliament will vote on a bill on this matter on Tuesday.
The Brazilian Amazon has had its most damaging August since 2010, with no fewer than 33,116 fires on the counter. Compared to August 2021, this is an increase of 18%. “The fires are destroying our planet’s most important lung and gradually turning the Amazon rainforest into a net emitter of CO2, which is one of the dreaded tipping points in climate change. Moreover, the fires are destroying the biodiversity, which is necessary to keep the forests healthy,” says Koen Stuyck, spokesperson for WWF-Belgium.
Conscious deforestation
The fires are the result of human actions, the organization says. “It is the last phase of deliberate deforestation actions in which the felled trees are lit to clear the land for exploitation with agricultural activities.”
At the end of 2021, the European Commission already presented a proposal on a new EU deforestation law that would take stricter action against the harmful practices of the timber trade. “But the EU member states drilled so many holes in the proposal that what was left looked more like a Swiss cheese,” WWF denounced.
As part of the #Together4Forests campaign, nearly 195,000 people called on the European Parliament to fight for change this summer. “They call on MEPs to support a strong law and not give in to attempts to weaken the text,” Wedeux said.
This law would include several aspects such as the protection of forests and ecosystems and respect for the land use and property rights of indigenous peoples. In addition, clear rules are imposed for companies and the financial sector, “without loopholes for malicious players”. Finally, complete transparency and traceability of the products are also important.
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