Forests under fire
‘ONEROUS REQUIREMENTS’: A letter from 18 EU member states called for the bloc to “delay and further simplify” the forthcoming application of new rules to curb global deforestation, according to Bloomberg. The letter said the regulation, due to take effect in December, “does not sufficiently take into account countries with effective forest protection laws and a negligible risk of causing deforestation”, the outlet said. The Financial Times added that Indonesia also demanded EU “policymakers cut back on ‘onerous’ requirements”, citing the challenges facing smallholder farmers and producers.

‘ILLICIT TIMBER TRADE’: Illegal loggers are “profit[ing] from Brazil’s carbon credit projects”, Reuters analysis found. Companies have invested “hundreds of millions of dollars” into these conservation projects. But at least 24 of 36 projects in the Brazilian Amazon examined by the newswire “involved landowners, developers or forestry firms that have been punished by Brazil’s environmental agency Ibama for their roles in illegal deforestation”. Offences ranged from “clear-cutting the rainforest without authorisation” to “entering false information in a government timber tracking system”, Reuters said. It is a “failure of the whole idea”, said Raoni Rajão, who formerly ran Brazil’s environment ministry’s programme combating deforestation.

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