The Cerrado, a vast wooded savanna in Brazil, is excluded from an EU law that will come into effect this year banning deforestation-derived products.
A delegation of Indigenous people is raising the issue in a visit to Brussels. They say the oversight from a region that supplies Europe with soy is “a question of survival” for them.
The legislation adopted last year requires importers to demonstrate that their products come from “deforestation-free supply chains” and not from areas deforested after 2020.
It covers palm oil, beef, soy, coffee, cocoa, timber, and rubber, as well as derived products such as furniture and chocolate. The law will come into effect at the end of December.
The definition of “forest” does not cover wooded ecosystems such as the Cerrado, an area that extends through central Brazil and into Paraguay and Bolivia.
Brazilian laws do not protect the Cerrado, and most of the country’s laws on the environment apply to the Amazon.
The European Commission this year will study possibly broadening the law to cover other ecosystems and products.
“Half of the Cerrado has already disappeared,” said Isabel Figueiredo, a member of Brazilian NGO ISPN. She stated prairies and woods were destroyed to make room for soy and other crops.
She added the agriculture and deforestation is preventing the water from seeping down to refill artesian supplies.
“The risk is that this amazing ecosystem, with its immense biodiversity and carbon-capture and climate-regulation capacities, will just collapse, and with it its ability to supply water to all parts of Brazil,” Figueiredo said.
EU environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius visited Paraguay, Bolivia, and Ecuador in March to address criticism of the new law.
NGOs and activists are watching closely how the legislation will be applied.
