Amazon threatened by UK's proposed anti-deforestation law

26th August 2021


Over two million hectares of Brazilian rainforest could be legally converted to supply the UK with soy under a new anti-deforestation law proposed by the government, the WWF has found.

The UK government's flagship Environment Bill includes plans to force large companies to carry out due diligence checks to ensure there is no illegal deforestation for commodities in their supply chains.

However, a new report from the WWF warns that the proposed measures will still allow products that result from legal deforestation, or devastating change to other natural ecosystems, to be sold in Britain.

Spatial analysis of the areas in Brazil that supply soy directly to the UK show that over 2.1 million hectares of natural vegetation – an area equivalent to just over the size of Wales – could potentially be legally converted under the law.

Furthermore, complex legal frameworks in producer countries and limited data transparency make it difficult to determine whether deforestation has taken place legally or not.

This could make the proposed UK due diligence regulation extremely difficult for companies to comply with, and for the government to enforce in practice.

Ahead of the Environment Bill returning to the House of Lords in early September, the WWF is calling on the government to expand the scope of the new legislation to eliminate all deforestation and land conversion – legal and illegal – from UK supply chains.

“The law proposed by the UK government to stop deforestation isn’t yet robust enough and must be strengthened if it is to prevent further destruction of natural ecosystems – whether legal or illegal,” said Katie White, executive director of advocacy and campaigns at the WWF

“This must sit alongside a legally-binding target to slash the UK’s global environmental footprint by 2030.

“Nature is our ally in the fight against climate change. To protect it, we must drastically reduce the UK’s global environmental footprint, not least by ensuring we aren’t adding to the destruction of precious habitats like the Amazon and Cerrado.”

Under the most likely scenario, the report estimates that UK imports of soy from Brazil between 2021 and 2030 would directly result in the conversion of 36-59,000 hectares of the 2.1 million hectares at risk, over 70% of which could be done legally.

The report also shows that narrowly focusing legislation on forest habitats, rather than all natural ecosystems, such as savannahs, leaves 5% of the world’s biodiversity, including over 12,000 plant species, 856 species of birds and 466 species of reptiles and amphibians, at risk.

In addition to strengthening legislation in the UK, the WWF highlights the responsibility of companies to deliver on their policies and commitments to eliminate all deforestation and ecosystem conversion and human rights abuses, across their entire supply chains.

At the same time, the conservation organisation is calling on financial institutions to adopt rigorous screening and monitoring processes to ensure that lending and investment do not contribute to environmental damage.

It said that, as president of COP26, and convenor of the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue, the UK has an opportunity to demonstrate environmental leadership and bring other nations along towards transformative solutions to halt deforestation and land conversion.

White added: “Ministers have promised to protect nature and ensure a safe climate for future generations – we won’t forget should they fail to deliver.”

Image credit: Shutterstock

Subscribe

Subscribe to IEMA's newsletters to receive timely articles, expert opinions, event announcements, and much more, directly in your inbox.


Transform articles

IEMA responds to the Office for Environmental Protection consultation

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) ran a consultation earlier this year to gather stakeholders’ views and insights on its strategy and enforcement policy.

26th May 2022

Read more

The UK government has today launched an eight-week consultation on its plans for legally-binding environmental targets.

16th March 2022

Read more

Sir Partha Dasgupta, author of the landmark Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity, tells Chris Seekings why a new approach is needed to halt and reverse humanity’s destruction of nature

28th January 2022

Read more

The pandemic seems to have focused minds on the importance of green space, says Aona Stuart

27th January 2022

Read more

Beavers are on the comeback, with Scotland making them a protected species and the Westminster government looking at their wider reintroduction. Huw Morris reports on these elite eco-engineers

27th January 2022

Read more

July saw the publication of IEMA’s Principles of Cultural Heritage Impact Assessment, produced in partnership with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists and the Institute of Historic Building Conservation.

23rd September 2021

Read more

The Environment Bill returned to Parliament following the Queen’s speech and is making progress through the House of Lords.

30th July 2021

Read more

The government has announced a delay to the Environment Bill’s passage through Parliament, due to COVID-19 restrictions and a bottleneck of legislation making its way onto the statute book. It is expected that the Bill will receive significant interest in the Lords, and the pause means it will carry over into the next parliamentary session, rather than being rushed through without proper scrutiny, or risking being dropped.

26th March 2021

Read more

Media enquires

Looking for an expert to speak at an event or comment on an item in the news?

Find an expert

IEMA Cookie Notice

Clicking the ‘Accept all’ button means you are accepting analytics and third-party cookies. Our website uses necessary cookies which are required in order to make our website work. In addition to these, we use analytics and third-party cookies to optimise site functionality and give you the best possible experience. To control which cookies are set, click ‘Settings’. To learn more about cookies, how we use them on our website and how to change your cookie settings please view our cookie policy.

Manage cookie settings

Our use of cookies

You can learn more detailed information in our cookie policy.

Some cookies are essential, but non-essential cookies help us to improve the experience on our site by providing insights into how the site is being used. To maintain privacy management, this relies on cookie identifiers. Resetting or deleting your browser cookies will reset these preferences.

Essential cookies

These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.

Analytics cookies

These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our website and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works.

Advertising cookies

These cookies allow us to tailor advertising to you based on your interests. If you do not accept these cookies, you will still see adverts, but these will be more generic.

Save and close