The advance of global deforestation coincides with a concerning weakening of European legislation against harmful imports.
At a time when forests are disappearing at an alarming rate, Europe is reconsidering its protection strategies.
Europe’s role in deforestation is not passive; its actions contribute to the problem. The EU legislation, known as the Regulation against Imported Deforestation, seeks to ensure that products like soy, palm oil, and cocoa do not come from deforested areas.
However, current proposals to modify the law to facilitate its application have generated criticism for potentially reducing its effectiveness.
The situation is urgent: millions of hectares of forest are lost annually. The Zero Deforestation Alliance urges the EU to keep intact the obligations of the European Regulation for deforestation-free products, warning that any weakening would represent an environmental and economic setback.
Global deforestation continues to grow
According to the FAO, from 2015 to 2025, the planet has lost an average of 10.9 million hectares of forest per year. The highest rates of deforestation are observed in Africa and South America, where forests are replaced by crops like soy and pastures for cattle.
The World Resources Institute reports that forest loss reached historic levels in 2024, with a loss of 6.7 million hectares of primary tropical forests.
The European market remains linked to deforestation through its imports of raw materials. The EU is the second-largest importer worldwide of products associated with deforestation, such as soy and palm oil.
In Brazil, a significant percentage of soy exports and beef to the EU could come from illegally deforested lands.
In 2023, the EU approved the EUDR, designed to require companies to demonstrate that their products do not come from deforested lands since 2020.
However, the Regulation is under political pressure, with the United States arguing that it could harm trade relations, despite recording a net annual loss of 120,000 hectares of forests.
The European Commission faces criticism for attempting to deregulate crucial environmental standards. The Hands Off the Nature campaign seeks to mobilize civil society to protect environmental regulations and ensure the strict application of the EUDR. Currently, it has gathered more than 350,000 signatures, with a goal of half a million.
The Zero Deforestation Alliance, which includes organizations like Greenpeace and WWF, emphasizes that any dilution of the regulation could represent a serious setback in nature protection in Europe, especially in the context of the climate crisis and biodiversity loss.
