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Virtual dialogue by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and producing countries on commodity-driven deforestation

26 May 2021
Copyright: GIZ

Towards autumn, the European Commission will present a legislative proposal to minimise deforestation and forest degradation in agricultural supply chains. Therefore, Dr. Maria Flachsbarth, Parliamentary State Secretary in BMZ, invited producing countries to a virtual dialogue on joint measures on supply and demand side to minimise deforestation driven by the expansion of agriculture on 26 May. From BMZā€™s perspective, producing countries should be supported through EU Forest Partnerships in light of the new regulation.

Among the panelists were the ambassadors of Indonesia and Colombia, Andri Hadi and Felipe Gracia Echeverri, as well as Florika Fink-Hooijer, Director-General of DG Environment of the European Commission, Carla Montesi, Director of DG International Partnerships, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim as representative of the indigenous communities, as well as Heidi Hautala, Vice President of the European Parliament.

According to Fink-Hooijer, the EU will aim to minimise deforestation and forest degradation in the supply chains of at least beef and related products, palm oil, soy, cocoa and coffee. Fink-Hooijer and Hautala emphasized that the EU will initiate with the upcoming legislative proposal a first of its kind legislation. Hadi supported on behalf of Indonesia a close cooperation with the EU to jointly combat deforestation. GarcĆ­a Echeverri called for an assessment and mitigation of potential unintended effects of the upcoming regulation. According to Ibrahim indigenous people should be recognized in the process as ā€œrightholdersā€ and not only stakeholders. Montesi welcomed the BMZ proposal for a thematic Team Europe Initiative on deforestation and living incomes that shall be translated into country interventions. The GIZ Programme Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains and Standards supported BMZ with the event.

Contact:Ā 

Maike Mƶllers, Senior Advisor GIZ Germany: maike.moellers@giz.de

Franziska Rau, Advisor GIZ Belgium: franziska.rau@giz.de

Simon Gmeiner, Technical Junior Advisor GIZ Belgium: simon.gmeiner@giz.deĀ Ā Ā 

Link to further material:Ā Measures on Deforestation ā€“ Producing Countriesā€™ Perspectives (nachhaltige-agrarlieferketten.org)Ā Ā 

Ā Key buzzwords/tags: deforestation, forest degradation, deforestation-free supply chains, virtual dialogue, forest partnerships, legislative proposal