Regulation on Deforestation-free products (2024)

FAQs

What is the deforestation free product regulation? ›

The EUDR aims to ensure that a set of key products traded and consumed in the EU and globally no longer contribute to deforestation and forest degradation.

Aiming at limiting global deforestation and forest degradation provoked by EU consumption and production, the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) imposes strict rules in terms of due diligence to all companies wishing to place affected products on the European market, or to export them.

The FOREST Act includes the following provisions to reduce our footprint on the world's forests and address corruption and crime abroad: Prohibit agricultural commodities produced on illegally deforested land from entering the US market.

Under EUDR, deforestation-free means: that the timber products are sourced from timber produced on lands that have not been subject to deforestation after 31 December 2020, and. specifically for timber products, that the timber was harvested from the forest without inducing forest degradation after 31 December 2020.

When compliance becomes mandatory at the end of 2024, the new regulation will require large companies trading in seven key commodities (and products derived from those commodities) to prove that these goods/products do not originate from recently deforested areas or contribute to forest degradation.

Deforestation refers to the decrease in forest areas across the world that are lost for other uses such as agricultural croplands, urbanization, or mining activities. Greatly accelerated by human activities since 1960, deforestation has been negatively affecting natural ecosystems, biodiversity, and the climate.

Promoting Sustainable Choices

You can make a difference in the fight to save forests by making informed daily choices. By consuming less, avoiding single-use packaging, eating sustainable food, and choosing recycled or responsibly-produced wood products, we can all be part of the movement to protect forests.

The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host of problems for Indigenous people.

The continuously growing demand for commodities that require large areas of land—including soy, palm oil, and beef—drives tropical deforestation, of which nearly half is illegal .

Who banned deforestation? ›

Norway's deforestation ban is a commitment to deforestation-free supply chains. It means that Norwegians will refuse to award government contracts to companies that engage in clear-cutting.

…the Paraguayan government passed the Zero Deforestation Law, which prohibits the conversion of forested area in Paraguay's Eastern Region.

The implementation of the EU deforestation-free regulation aims to reduce the impact of deforestation and forest degradation by 71.92 kha, or approximately 100,728 football pitches - of forest per year and reduce CO2 emissions by 31.9 million metric tons per year.

The regulation prohibits the trade and marketing of raw materials and products such as cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soy, and wood within the EU unless they meet specific criteria: Deforestation-free since 2020.

If forests are cleared, or even disturbed, they release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Forest loss and damage is the cause of around 10% of global warming. There's simply no way we can fight the climate crisis if we don't stop deforestation.

In the United States, laws like the Endangered Species Act, the Wilderness Act, the Lacey Act, and the Roadless Rule help protect our forests and stop illegal wood products from entering the U.S. marketplace.

Brazil's Forest Code

In 1965, Brazil created and passed its first Forest Code, a law requiring landowners in the Amazon to maintain 35 to 80 percent of their property under native vegetation. So, rural farmers of all kinds can buy land in the Amazon, but they can only farm 20 percent of it.

The Product Environmental Footprint, also the PEF methodology, is an important initiative from the European Commission. PEF changes how companies measure the environmental impact of their products throughout their entire life cycle. It considers both the supply chain and downstream activities.