At this beginning of 2023, we are witnessing important changes towards greater protection of Brazilian ecosystems, particularly, of the Amazon. These moves include resuming the Plan to Combat Deforestation (PPCDAm) and the guideline committee of the Amazon Fund, by the Brazilian government, among many others. Similar actions are in harmony with the first speech delivered by the incumbent president, who is committed to adopting zero deforestation and zero greenhouse gas emission policy in the Amazon.
The path is long and harsh, but a global agenda is echoing, aiming to increase sustainability of agricultural and forestry production and ensure our continuity on this planet. Converging in this direction, a law approved last December, and currently being finalized is a promise to become a milestone for mitigating climate change and protecting global biodiversity. The European Union (EU) has committed to ban the import of products related to deforestation and degradation of forest ecosystems, in any part of the globe. This means that its members will not accept products from deforested (or degraded) areas after December 31, 2020, even if the suppression is considered legal in the context of the country of origin.
The law will directly impact on the Amazon, since several products manufactured in the region will be tracked, such as soy, wood and beef. In practice, exporting companies must trace the products from their origin and, thus, prove that there was no deforestation associated with their production, nor degradation of forests, which normally occurs by fires or logging. Brazil, classified as a country at high risk of deforestation, will be among those more rigorously monitored nations.
Actions such as the EU law have great potential to bring significant changes towards more sustainable agricultural and forestry production, in line with national policies. A study published in the journal Science last year provided a consistent picture of the impact of global emissions, as a result of international commodity trade. About 30% of Brazilian agricultural land is destined for the export of products. Brazil was the largest global exporter of gas emissions related to land use changes, estimated at 917 million tons of CO2-eq for the year 2017.
According to the same essay, 22% of the world's agricultural land and 27% of land-use emissions are related to products consumed in a region other than their place of production. Therefore, this data raises a crucial issue: a large part of the emissions is carried out by developing countries that are rich in biodiversity, as it is the case of Brazil, to export products to economically richer and more industrialized countries, such as Europe. If, on the one hand, international regulations are important allies of national measures to consolidate more sustainable agricultural and forestry production, on the other hand, they raise important ethical questions. The transition of these economic sectors needs to be carried out with broad support from the international community, in particular, from countries that contribute to emissions in developing regions, such as the Brazilian Amazon.
