In a letter to the European Commission on Thursday 1 November, Denmark's Environment Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen called on the Commission for "an ambitious EU action plan on deforestation and forest degradation" as quickly as possible.
In his letter, Ellemann-Jensen says he is writing on behalf of the alliance of member states set up by the Amsterdam Declaration for the elimination of deforestation in agricultural supply chains. This declaration was signed on 7 December 2015 by Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK and Italy.
The Danish minister underlines the goal of putting an end to deforestation by 2020, which was set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda.
He hails the results of a Commission study on 19 March, which recognises the EU's responsibility in global deforestation and proposes a series of concrete measures, the feasibility and impact of which have been studied. According to Ellemann-Jensen, this study can be "an excellent basis" for European action.
The Danish minister's initiative follows up on the call of the European Parliament, when it met in plenary on 11 September, to take concrete EU measures to help stop deforestation (see EUROPE 12094). During this plenary, the MEPs had called on the Commission to fully implement the EU regulation on timber and include binding arrangements in all the EU's trade and investment agreements.
Greenpeace EU's support
Ellemann-Jensen's letter received the support of Greenpeace EU, whose representative, Sébastien Risso, says "the Commission should stop sitting on its hands and address these issues head on".
The fight against deforestation is one of the priorities highlighted by the 53 delegations represented at the EU-Asia summit (ASEM) on Friday 19 October (see EUROPE 12121). (Original version in French by Mathieu Solal)