NGOs ask to include the Brazilian Cerrado in the EUDR at the next review

Currently, about 74% of the Brazilian Cerrado is outside the scope of the EU Anti-Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), legislation to protect forests worldwide. To avoid greater pressure on these lands and the communities that inhabit them, indigenous leaders and non-governmental organizations are calling on EU authorities to review and expand the regulation during the one-year review period.

The EUDR, designed to prevent products linked to deforestation from entering the EU from 1 January 2024, applies to any geographical area where palm oil, cattle, coffee, cocoa, soy, timber and rubber are produced. However, to be considered deforested land, it must fall within the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) definition of “forest”, which excludes some savannas and grasslands. Unless violations are found under national and international laws (including environmental laws), goods produced in areas not covered by the EUDR will be able to enter the EU.

This includes much of the Cerrado, an ecosystem known as the “cradle of water” due to its vital role in replenishing major watersheds in Brazil and South America, as well as providing energy and food security to millions of people. It is Brazil’s second largest biome, covering more than 20% of the country’s territory (an area the size of Mexico) and is the most biodiverse savanna in the world.

If it is not applied equally to all biomes, “the EUDR will contribute to even greater pressure on deforestation in non-forest biomes, and will also increase the violence experienced in indigenous territories that are not located in the Amazon or Atlantic rainforest.” Dinamam Tuxa, executive coordinator of Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, said this in a press statement.

So the risk here is a potential “leakage effect,” where forest protection measures shift deforestation to another region, environmentalists say. Producers may decide to move their activities from areas covered by the EUDR to unprotected savannas and grasslands, exacerbating the expansion of production of some commodities and placing greater stress on ecosystems. Activists are also concerned that this effect could affect indigenous peoples and other traditional communities such as the Quilombola and Gueraizeiros.

Richard Fuchs, a researcher at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) on the Alpine campus, told Mongabay that the exclusion of corn and other commodities from the EUDR could also be used by producers who could switch their soybean crops to corn. known as a land swap.

Territories under threat

The Cerrado contains approximately 216 indigenous territories belonging to 83 different ethnic groups, as well as 44 quilombola territories. According to Isabel Figueiredo, coordinator of the Cerrado Program at the Society’s Institute of Population, Society and Nature, these areas could be threatened by land grabs and other mechanisms used by agribusiness to expand production.

Some of these communities are already struggling with invasion and pesticide pollution. In a recent investigation, Earthsight linked soy used as animal feed on European chicken farms to deforestation, land grabbing, corruption and violence against traditional communities in the Cerrado.

“Threats and armed confrontation have become part of everyday life for the traditional communities that have inhabited the region for generations,” said Fyfe Strachan, head of policy and communications at Earthsight. “Aggressive agribusiness expansion is also reducing habitat and threatening the survival of one fifth of Cerrado species,” such as the maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) and the giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus).

Unlike its Amazon neighbor, where destruction has been reduced in recent years as a result of national policies to protect it, the rate of deforestation in the Cerrado increased by 43% in 2023, with the greatest destruction concentrated in the state of Bahia, where almost a quarter of The original 9 million hectares (22 million acres) of vegetation – an area the size of Wales – have been lost since 1985.

Including the Cerrado in the EUDR review will make a “significant contribution to slowing deforestation in these critical ecosystems,” Strachan told Mongabay.

Thomas Haar, press officer for the European Parliament, told Mongabay that during the first review of the regulation, which will be carried out within one year of its entry into force, they will “assess the impact of further extending the scope of the regulation to “other forest areas.” .'”

However, some researchers are in favor of the proposed 12-month delay to review the EUDR in order to improve the legislation now rather than wait for a year-long review. The Center for International Forestry Research and Global Agroforestry welcomes the delay, which the EU Parliament will soon vote on, for several reasons, although not necessarily to protect the Cerrado. In the press release, the organization mentions addressing gaps in how regulation understands forests.

“Our research points to the need for a more detailed understanding of forest systems and tree-based land use,” the organization wrote.

Other researchers and advocates worry that the delay will scuttle the momentum, allow businesses to thwart its implementation and lead to even more deforestation.

Banner image: Cattle herds in the Amazon and Cerrado basins tend to have a small number of cattle per hectare. Restoring pastures could increase the number of cattle in the same area, which the researchers say could reduce the need for deforestation. Image © Tommaso Protti/Greenpeace.

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Quote:

Fuchs, R., Raymond, J., Winkler, C., & Rouncewell, M. (2024). The EU’s new anti-deforestation law has serious loopholes that could be exploited as part of the upcoming EU-Mercosur trade deal. Environmental Research Letters, 19(9): 091005. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/ad69ab.

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