Despite food and agriculture industries’ campaign to delay anti-deforestation legislation, the European public doesn’t buy the excuses according to a poll by YouGov. Seven out of 10 people surveyed in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain think ‘industry is using the crisis in Ukraine as an excuse to continue buying and selling products that cause deforestation’. Source: Timberbiz
The multi-country poll shows almost nine out of 10 Europeans support the strengthening of the draft law to include financial institutions and protect Indigenous Peoples rights.
The overwhelming public support for a Deforestation-Free Law is shared across political ideologies and across political parties: 97% of Macron supporters, 95% of supporters of the ruling Spanish Socialist Party, 93% of Italy’s Five-Star Movement supporters, 92% of Germany’s SPD supporters and 90% of Denmark’s Social Democrats supporters support this regulation.
The poll also shows that voters would reward Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and parties working to pass a strong law. More than half (55%) of Europeans would be more likely to vote for their MEP and her/his party in the next election if she or he worked to enact a robust EU Deforestation-Free Law.
“This poll shows that Europeans care about their impact on nature and Indigenous Peoples and want industry and politicians to act consistently with those values. If the EU Deforestation-Free Law is weakened, it’s going to seriously undermine the trust of their voters and customers,” Carlo de Masi, president of Italian consumer group Adiconsum, said.
David Sánchez, director of Spanish consumer confederation CECU, said: “European consumers already expressed their support for an ambitious law to keep deforestation out of their shopping carts in another poll three years ago.
“Now, consumers insist they don’t want lawmakers to allow the industry and lobby groups to weaken the EU Deforestation-Free Law. We need it to be strict to ensure consumers shop sustainable options only”.
Powerful meat, palm oil and chocolate industry lobbies are exerting political pressure in Brussels and key national capitals to water down the draft regulation that would require
Almost 1.2 million citizens called on the EU to pass a strong regulation to stop imported deforestation, uniting their voices in the #Together4Forests campaign.
Europe is one of the largest drivers of global deforestation in the world, second only to China. The EU is responsible for 16% of tropical deforestation linked to international trade through the imports of commodities such as beef, soy, palm oil, rubber, timber, cacao and coffee and their derived products.
Agriculture drives almost 90% of tropical deforestation, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
You can download the poll results here
