Open letter to the UK Prime Minister on deforestation and the Amazon
The Amazon is under unprecedented attack, with Brazil’s Congress currently considering new legislation that would legalise illegal land grabbing in the world’s biggest rainforest. This has dire implications for global efforts to avoid dangerous climate change.
But there is much the UK can still do to ensure that our supply chains are not complicit in any form of deforestation. The UK Environment Bill has proposed a legal framework to address the overseas deforestation footprint of the UK’s consumption of ‘forest risk commodities’ like soy, beef, palm oil, coffee and rubber.
While this is welcome, the proposal has major gaps that limit its potential. The Government must strengthen its proposal on due diligence requirements for forest risk commodities, to help halt agricultural expansion into the world’s remaining forests and natural ecosystems.
On World Amazon Day, a coalition of non-governmental organisations, Indigenous Peoples’ groups, scientists and academics have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling on the Government to take urgent action and strengthen its proposal.
