The EU’s regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR) was hailed as a watershed in the fight to protect the world’s forests when it came into force in 2023. The world’s first law its kind, the EUDR requires companies selling certain high-risk goods on the EU market – including palm oil, cocoa and soy – to prove that they haven’t harmed forests. The path to achieving this “global benchmark” in forest protection was long and arduous, and followed years of intense political debate, tireless campaigning, and behind-the-scenes lobbying by industry forces and member states, who were intent on weakening or entirely sabotaging the regulation. Yet the challenges in passing the EUDR pale in comparison with those involved in implementing it – and making it work. Communities around the world rely on the proceeds of crops such as cacao. Image courtesy of Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests. A thorny issue One of the biggest hurdles is the vexing question of traceability. The requirement for companies to trace goods’ supply chains back to where they were produced, to ensure they’re legal and deforestation-free, is at the heart of the EUDR. How this traceability is done, by whom, and at what cost, is a major bone of contention for many governments in the tropical forested countries who will be impacted by the law. Indonesia and Malaysia, the world’s two biggest producers of palm oil, for instance, have described the EUDR as protectionist and discriminatory. A persistent complaint from producer governments is that requiring smallholder…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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