EU Deforestation Law One Of Main Talks aT Colombian Coffee Exporters Association Summit
EU Deforestation Law One Of Main Talks aT Colombian Coffee Exporters Association Summit
Bogota (Coffee Network) -Colombia is worried with a new European Union law that bans imports of agricultural products, such as palm oil, soy, and coffee, if they were grown on land cleared for agricultural use after 2020. This is one of the leading talks at the 83rd Coffee Exporters Association summit.
The law approved in December but ratified recently says to fight climate change and biodiversity loss, companies must ensure products sold in the EU have not led to deforestation and forest degradation.
“At the conference, the director of the European coffee federation will discuss this as well as other agrochemical restrictions. We are concerned about the traceability of the coffee origin. The farm must be mapped with a satellite polygon. Who is going to pay for that? Imagine 600,000 coffee farms that must have a satellite polygon,” Gustavo Gomez, director of the coffee exporters association Asoexport told Coffee Network.
The coffee summit will begin later today in the city of Cartagena and the main conferences will be presented tomorrow.
While no country or commodity will be banned, companies will only be allowed to sell products in the EU if the supplier of the product has issued a so-called “due diligence” statement confirming that the product does not come from deforested land or has led to forest degradation, including of irreplaceable primary forests, after 31 December 2020.
The products covered by the new legislation are: cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm-oil, soya and wood, including products that contain, have been fed with or have been made using these commodities (such as leather, chocolate and furniture).
As requested by European Parliament, companies will also have to verify that these products comply with relevant legislation of the country of production, including on human rights, and that the rights of affected indigenous people have been respected.
The European parliament also secured a wider definition of forest degradation that includes the conversion of primary forests or naturally regenerating forests into plantation forests or into other wooded land.
But the law is already raising concerns in Latin America.
The Peruvian coffee and cocoa chamber recently said the provision will mainly hit cooperatives and producer associations that have specialized in European certified markets. “Poor management of support for the implementation of these new rules in these markets puts the livelihood of more than 350,000 families at risk and is an incentive for activities such as drug trafficking, illegal logging, and crime”, the coffee and cocoa chamber said.
The chamber more than 50% of Peruvian agricultural exports would likely be hit by the law.
The Colombian commerce, trade and tourism ministry, said they had raised concerns about the discriminatory nature of the products; the onerous mechanisms of due diligence, geolocation and traceability; and insufficient transition period.
In addition, agricultural producers will have to incur in cost overruns to ensure compliance with these standards, which could sometimes exclude or jeopardize a decent income, especially for small farmers and micro, small and medium-sized companies.
Gomez, president of the coffee exporters association Asoexport, it is unknown who will pay for a satellite polygon which has to prove that the coffee farm was not deforested after December 2020.
“Trade restrictions are inadequate to address environmental concerns and can lead to trade distortions, reduced business opportunities and further impoverishment, with limited effects for forest conservation,” the ministry said.
Colombia exported 1.14 million bags of 60-kg sacks of coffee last year to the European Union, down from 1.307 million bags in 2021, according to figures from the coffee growers federation.
Today there is tasting of Robusta coffee produced in COlombia.
