Contribute to deforestation wild of the Amazon? We penalize you by not buying your products. This is the principle of the recent law approved by the European Parliament, and which will be valid starting from September 2024 for each of the 27 member countries: it is forbidden to import any raw material, whether it is coffee, soy, beef, cocoa, palm oil, but also derivative products such as wooden furniture, if they have been illegally produced to produce them cut down forests. The provision, which is the extension of an already existing law to more products, was also accompanied by the promise, or at least by the declared intention of the European Union to contribute to the Amazon Fund, a funding program for the protection of the lungs of the planet established by Norway and in which only Germany participates for now, but which the USA is also about to enter, with 500 million dollars over the next 5 years, and the United Kingdom with 80 million pounds. It is a reward mechanism intended for Brazil in exchange for the commitment to preserve the Amazon forest.
Deforestation of the Amazon: the Lula effect still insufficient
However, a commitment that has been lacking in recent years, and that even today with the return of Lula in power, is not entirely producing the change of gear hoped for by the international community. Brazil's effort on this front is still insufficient: in the January-April period of this year, the square kilometers of deforested Amazon forest were 288, the third lowest figure ever and a sharp decrease compared to the record set in 2022 with 1.026 square km, but on the other hand it reached negative primacy the retreat of other forest areas of Brazil, such as the very important Cerrado, considered the savannah with the greatest biodiversity in the world, as it has over 6 species of trees and 800 species of birds, and which decreased by 2.133 square km in the first quarter of 2023, almost double compared to January-April 2021. That's why, according to WWF Brazil, we absolutely cannot speak of a trend towards improvement: "In the first place, because the dry season, more favorable to deforestation, has yet to begin - the director Mariana Napolitano explains to Folha de Sao Paulo - , and then because the accumulated data relating to the Amazon now touches 6.000 square km and only since the surveys were made, not to mention that the last period from August to April was the worst ever”.
Brazil: China's main export destination
The problem is that Brazil thrives on commodity exports, especially soy and beef, and especially destination China. The agribusiness sector, which has literally exploded in recent years, is now alone worth 25% of all the country's exports: in 2002, the year in which Lula was elected for the first time, the percentage was 6,6%. In the last decade, agricultural exports have exceeded 300 billion dollars, while in the previous decade they did not reach 45 billion. And Beijing is the main "culprit" of this boom: in 2022, 63% of soybeans and 43% of beef exported were purchased by the Asian giant. But there is not only China: even theArgentina, a large soybean producer, has become the third largest importer of this commodity from Brazil. And the second is the Spain, demonstrating that Europe too has a far from negligible share of the market. In fact, 60% of the soy flour and over 50% of the coffee exported from Brazil travel towards the Old Continent.
European law against deforestation threatens Brazilian farms
This is why the new European legislation, if on the one hand it could benefit even more the China, which for a couple of years has made Brazil its preferred partner, allocating the majority of its foreign investments there, on the other penalizes and it worries her not a little Brazilian farms. However, they should also be aware that their business is responsible for 75% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions (between deforestation, methane emissions from bovine digestion, use of fertilizers and fossil fuels) and that this is now a fact unacceptable to the global community. The Lula government is certainly aware of this, but did not like the one-sidedness of the decision: "We are obviously against deforestation - said the Minister of Agriculture Carlos Favaro – but dialogue and diplomacy are needed. Without resources, Brazil alone cannot do it: it must be considered that 27 million Brazilians work in the Amazon, to whom an income must be guaranteed”.
