Potential impacts of the proposed EU regulation on deforestation-free supply chains on smallholders, indigenous peoples, and local communities in producer countries outside the EU

Zhunusova, Eliza; Ahimbisibwe, Vianny; Sen, Lê Thị Hoa; Sadeghi, Azin; Toledo‐Aceves, Tarin; Kabwe, Gillian; Günter, Sven

doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2022.102817

Cited by 27 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…By shelving the EU’s tropical agro-commodities and biomass overconsumption question, the bloc avoids articulating a critical plan essential for instigating much-needed changes in the consumption habits of its citizens. Focusing predominantly on the supply-side policies shifts the burden of responsibility onto countries in the global South, the smallest beneficiary of agro-commodity trade (Hickel et al 2021 ) while risking the sustenance of multiple smallholders in the South (Zhunusova et al 2022 ). Besides, this approach mistakenly and unfairly reduces the tropical deforestation conundrum to a set of governance challenges and the need for capacity building and monitoring deforestation on the supply side.…”

Section: The Eu’s Response To Tropical Deforestation: Bypassing the C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…SAPReF indicates that deforestation would be tackled through legislation in supply countries, certification of products, and capacity building where European knowledge and expertise are transferred to supply countries. Meanwhile the effectiveness of these approaches has been questioned repeatedly in the literature (e.g., Büscher et al 2012 ; Zhunusova et al 2022 ). On the one hand, the EU’s portrayal of the deforestation question as a governance challenge eerily echoes Nkrumah’s observation that imperial Europe has the proclivity for casting countries in the global South as sites ‘unblessed with the arts of good government’ to create a fertile ground for interventions that consolidate Europe’s control over such countries (Nkrumah 1964 , p. 82).…”

Section: The Eu’s Response To Tropical Deforestation: Bypassing the C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While such efforts are commendable, they do not directly tackle overconsumption or inequality associated with tropical deforestation. Instead, as Zhunusova et al ( 2022 ) argue, they risk becoming a means to shrug a significant part of the responsibility for tackling deforestation onto actors in low-income countries, especially smallholder farmers.…”

Section: Rethinking the Eu’s Role In Addressing Tropical Deforestationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Is the EU shirking responsibility for its deforestation footprint in tropical countries? Power, material, and epistemic inequalities in the EU’s global environmental governance

Kumeh

Ramcilovic‐Suominen

2023

Sustain Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper critically examines the European Union’s (EU) role in tropical deforestation and the bloc’s actions to mitigate it. We focus on two EU policy communications aimed at the challenge: stepping up EU action to protect and restore the world's forests and the EU updated bioeconomy strategy. In addition, we refer to the European Green Deal, which articulates the bloc’s overarching vision for sustainability and transformations. We find that by casting deforestation as a production problem and a governance challenge on the supply side, these policies deflect attention from some of the key drivers of tropical deforestation—the EU’s overconsumption of deforestation-related commodities and asymmetric market and trade power relations. The diversion allows the EU unfettered access to agro-commodities and biofuels, which are important inputs to the EU’s green transition and bio-based economy. Upholding a ‘sustainability image’ within the EU, an overly business-as-usual approach has taken precedence over transformative policies, enabling multinational corporations to run an ecocide treadmill, rapidly obliterating tropical forests. Whereas the EU's plan to nurture a bioeconomy and promote responsible agro-commodities production in the global South are relevant, the bloc is evasive in setting firm targets and policy measures to overcome the inequalities that spring from and enable its overconsumption of deforestation-related commodities. Drawing on degrowth and decolonial theories, we problematise the EU’s anti-deforestation policies and highlight alternative ideas that could lead to more just, equitable and effective measures for confronting the tropical deforestation conundrum.

show abstract

Section: The Eu’s Response To Tropical Deforestation: Bypassing the C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Eu’s Response To Tropical Deforestation: Bypassing the C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rethinking the Eu’s Role In Addressing Tropical Deforestationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Is the EU shirking responsibility for its deforestation footprint in tropical countries? Power, material, and epistemic inequalities in the EU’s global environmental governance

Kumeh

Ramcilovic‐Suominen

2023

Sustain Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They also stop purchasing FFB from producers who convert forests and require non-compliant producers to adopt their own ZDCs and in some cases to remediate damage caused before allowing them back into their supply chain [17]. While previous research has identified a number of challenges to implement ZDC policies in this ideal way, ranging from a lack of accurate mapping and traceability data to conflicts with buyers' conventional procurement practices, companies have increasingly gained experience and experimented in overcoming such limitations [11,15,18]. Still, the range of quality of ZDC policy design and implementation across companies has been underexplored to date.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Introducing new sourcing policies without safeguards for marginalized communities, such as oil palm smallholders, may harm their livelihoods. Given that smallholder communities have a lower capacity to adapt rapidly to more stringent sourcing requirements, they are at risk of being excluded from international markets and experiencing worse prices, purchasing conditions, or a total lack of marketing options unless companies support them by strengthening their adaptive capacity or ensuring their market access [16][17][18]21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How well does the implementation of corporate zero-deforestation commitments in Indonesia align with aims to halt deforestation and include smallholders?

Chandra,

Garrett,

Carlson

et al. 2024

Environ. Res. Lett.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In response to growing scrutiny surrounding commodity-driven deforestation, companies have introduced zero-deforestation commitments (ZDCs) with ambitious environmental and social targets. However, such initiatives may not effectively reduce deforestation if they are not aligned with the spatial extent of remaining forests at risk. They may also fail to avert socio-economic risks if ZDCs do not consider smallholder farmers’ needs. We assess the spatial and functional fit of ZDCs by mapping commodity-driven deforestation and socio-economic risks, and comparing them to the spatial coverage and implementation of ZDCs in the Indonesian palm oil sector. Our study finds that companies’ ZDCs often underperform in four areas: traceability, compliance support for high-risk palm oil mills, transparency, and smallholder inclusion. In 2020, only one-third of companies sourcing from their own mills, and just 6% of those sourcing from external suppliers, achieved full traceability to plantations. Comparing the reach of ZDCs adopted by downstream buyers with those adopted by mill owners located further upstream, we find that high-quality ZDCs from buyers covered 62% of forests at risk, while mill owners’ ZDCs only covered 23% of forests at risk within the mill supply base. In Kalimantan and Papua, the current and future deforestation frontiers, the forests most at risk of conversion were predominantly covered by weak ZDCs lacking in policy comprehensiveness and implementation. Additionally, we find that only 46% of independent smallholder oil palm plots are in mill supply sheds whose owners offer programs and support for independent smallholders, indicating that smallholder inclusion is a significant challenge for ZDC companies. These results highlight the lack of spatial and functional alignment between supply chain policies and their local context as a significant gap in ZDC implementation and a challenge that the EU Deforestation Regulation will face.

show abstract

Leverage points for tackling unsustainable global value chains: market-based measures versus transformative alternatives

Santika,

Nelson,

Flint

et al. 2023

Sustain Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tropical forests are rapidly disappearing due to the expansion of cash crops to meet demands from distant markets. Pressing concerns on deforestation impacts resulting from the global trade of tropical commodities have led some high-income countries’ governments to consider diverse regulatory and trade levers to tackle the problem. These include proposals for new supply chain due diligence legislation concerning imports of forest-risk products and the inclusion of environmental measures in trade deals. To contribute to this debate, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of existing data on global trade and consumption patterns of tropical commodities, attribution of commodity production to deforestation, trade agreements, and progress in the implementation of crop sustainability standards. We used global data on key tropical commodities of oil palm, cocoa, and coffee. Our study shows that high-income countries have the highest per capita consumption for the three commodities evaluated and that consumption rates have dramatically increased in the last two decades. We discuss a range of measures that can potentially be required to tackle deforestation in global supply chains, which are currently being considered by policymakers, before discussing the kinds of post-growth, convivial approaches that are often excluded by the framing. Given the inherent expansionary nature of global market dynamics, we show that market-based initiatives are inadequate to tackle continuing deforestation and socio-ecological degradation. More transformative solutions amplify commoning and post-growth approaches are required to lead to some uncoupling of trade and territorialising of economic activity to fit within planetary boundaries and allow for plural values.

show abstract

Potential impacts of the proposed EU regulation on deforestation-free supply chains on smallholders, indigenous peoples, and local communities in producer countries outside the EU

Cited by 27 publications

References 32 publications

Is the EU shirking responsibility for its deforestation footprint in tropical countries? Power, material, and epistemic inequalities in the EU’s global environmental governance

Is the EU shirking responsibility for its deforestation footprint in tropical countries? Power, material, and epistemic inequalities in the EU’s global environmental governance

How well does the implementation of corporate zero-deforestation commitments in Indonesia align with aims to halt deforestation and include smallholders?

Leverage points for tackling unsustainable global value chains: market-based measures versus transformative alternatives

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About