The European Union is considering banning the import of coffee and beef

Senior EU officials have developed a proposal for rules that would prevent deforestation in, among other places, rainforests. According to the proposal, agricultural holdings whose produce has been added due to deforestation should not be allowed to sell their products in the union.

The draft was announced two weeks after world leaders signed the deforestation plan at the World Climate Conference in Glasgow.

rubber excluded

In proposing the new rules, the European Commission only wants to allow products that have not contributed to deforestation.

The proposal relates to a ban on the import of beef, palm oil, soybeans, coffee and cocoa into the European Union. However, the ban does not cover rubber, an exception that some environmental groups criticize, says The Guardian.

For the first time, the EU is trying to regulate products that can be linked to all types of deforestation, not just illegal logging or forest burning.

In addition to the six main products, this also applies to manufactured items such as chocolate, leather and furniture. Importers should be able to report the exact coordinates of where production takes place, TT reports.

“What we are proposing is a groundbreaking initiative,” said Virginius Synkevichos, EU Commissioner for the Environment.

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EU action alone will not solve the problem. We also need big markets like the USA and China to clean up their supply chain and we need producers that step up forest protection, but we are ready to help.

Deforestation means that an originally forested area is permanently converted to either arable land, grazing land, or other open land through logging or wildfire.

Per Larson, a forestry expert with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), welcomes this news.

– this is important. He told TTT that the European Union and China are the largest imports of these products.