A group of 18 farming ministers including Ireland have urged the European Commission to delay and water-down a law on deforestation.
The law, which is due to come into force at the end of the year, demands that companies prove that wood products are from sustainable forests categorised as “deforestation-free” by the EU.
The European Parliament says the law will lead to lower “greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss”. But governments including Sweden, Austria and Ireland complain that the rules for proving “deforestation-free” are too onerous on farmers.
In April, the European Commission agreed to make “further simplifications” to the law “to help reduce administrative burdens and facilitate the implementation of the Regulation.”
But even this is not enough.
The group of 18 countries including Ireland have now written to the European Commission urging the law to be further watered down or the deadline to enforce it by the end of year be delayed.
The European Commission has already designated all EU member states including Ireland as “low risk” to deforrestation meaning checks do not need to take place as frequently.
Only Russia, Belarus, Myanmar, and North Korea are flagged as “high risk”, according to the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) which is monitoring the implementation of the new law.
“The requirements imposed on farmers, forest owners and operators remain onerous and not justified for countries with an insignificant risk of deforestation”, farming ministers including Ireland’s Martin Heydon wrote in a letter to the European Commission seen by NewsIreland.eu.
“If the EU wants to remain credible on the international commitments made, the EUDR [EU Deforestation Regulation] needs to be applied as planned”, says the WWF.
Creating exemptions now would gravely damage the EU’s credibility as a global environmental leader,” said Anke Schulmeister-Oldenhove, WWF’s forests expert in Brussels.