Debate: Land grabbing and deforestation in the Amazonas
Date: FRIDAY, 19 JUNE 2020
Speaker: Virginijus Sinkevičius
Language: EN

You, Ms McGuinness, have rightly said that we need to look at the complexity of our supply chain. This is very true and challenging, but I can reassure you that this is exactly what we are doing. I work very closely with all my colleagues concerned to bring together environmental, agricultural, trade, health and climate aspects of deforestation. Let me reassure you that the Commission is not only providing significant technical and financial assistance to countries in the region to tackle these challenges, and that we talk to and listen carefully to the indigenous people who are directly impacted and at risk, as you, Ms Burkhardt and also Ms Matias, have mentioned. We are also working on domestic policies to reduce the EU’s own footprint on forests abroad, in addition, in close cooperation with the European External Action Service and the diplomatic services of EU Member States. We are using all available diplomatic channels to engage on this important topic. The Commission is already taking action to support efforts across the globe to tackle the root causes of deforestation and to protect the rights of indigenous people and local communities, which are threatened by land grabbing and deforestation. In this respect I look forward to the outcome of your future deliberations on the legislative initiative report by Ms Burkhardt, on the legal framework to halt and reverse EU—driven global deforestation after years of damages that cannot be repaired. And ahead of landmark international meetings, such as COP26 in Glasgow and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP15 in Kunming, it’s clear that we are at a critical junction to succeed. We need to scale up efforts towards preserving critical ecosystems such as forests, not only as a solution to climate change and biodiversity challenge, but also achieve sustainability and resilience. In reply to many of you who mentioned the government in Brazil, we call on national authorities, including Brazilian authorities, to take decisive action to address deforestation and to cooperate regionally and internationally to this end. We stand ready to provide technical assistance in order to ensure that deforestation decreases rapidly, substantially and permanently should there be a clear willingness for cooperation on this issue. Let me agree also with Mr Ştefănuță, who reminded us that the problem of deforestation does not only exist abroad but also close to us in Europe. I can only say to you that I am following closely developments in Europe and I am determined to take strong action also at home. Since many of you have mentioned free trade agreements, let me recall that all our modern free trade agreements contain ambitious, even if imperfect, provisions to promote trade and sustainable development. The fact that we conclude negotiations for an association agreement with the Mercosur countries does not mean that we agree with all the policies of those governments in all areas, clearly not. But it is a way of having reciprocal binding commitments to the Paris Agreement as foreseen by the EU—Mercosur agreement. It is a way of having dialogue and working with Brazil and the other partners in the region to push and encourage each other to live up to the commitments we have made together in the Paris Agreement and to work together on the environmental issues. Mercosur countries, including Brazil, have included commitments on deforestation in their Paris Agreement pledges reinforced by private sector initiatives, such as that of Brazilian meatpackers not to source meat from farms in recently deforested areas and the Amazon soya moratorium, an independent Brazilian multi stakeholder initiative.  Honourable Members, to conclude, yes, there is still a lot of work to do and we will continue our work on the legislative proposal that we will present next year and I look forward to working closely with you on this important issue.