The congressional hearing about that were exactly where the congressional hearing about that were coming from. (R-PA) It is an important step in tackling global deforestation, climate change and biodiversity by promoting good governance and reorganizing responsible businesses, both at home and abroad.
For the past ten years, the world has lost as much forestland as Virginia every year.1 The global deforestation crisis is closely linked to the serious problems we face. Deforestation and deforestation are among the major contributors to climate change and biodiversity, and are the cause of the spread of zonal diseases such as Ebola and coronavirus.2 Forests contribute to livelihoods and food security for more than one billion people worldwide.3 And their guilt is related to land grabbing and attacks on Indigenous, local communities and environmentalists.4 Feeding corruption and organized crime is undermining the rule of law.5
In the tropics, the expansion of commercial agriculture in South America, led by cattle and soybeans, is responsible for 60% of deforestation in Southeast Asia.6 More than two-thirds of this agricultural change is illegal.7 However, products on illegally converted lands continue to attract unfamiliar consumers and investors in the United States and other major markets. In addition, the production of commodities such as palm oil, cocoa and beef is associated with forced labor and child labor.8
Voluntary initiative and organizational commitment have not been sufficient over the past decade to curb deforestation and deforestation.9 Government leadership and regulatory frameworks are needed to bring about systemic change in the global supply chain and to regulate the playing field of local and foreign businesses.10
As one of the world’s largest producers and consumers of agricultural products, the United States has a key role to play in promoting good governance and maintaining trade and financial standards to protect the ecological integrity of peoples and the rest of the world’s forests. The European Union and the United Kingdom are developing regulatory measures to reduce the impact on agriculture.11 The United States must join these efforts and do not delay.
We urge you to enact forest laws as an important step in reducing our impact on the world’s forests and fighting corruption and crime abroad.
- Prohibit the entry of agricultural products into the US market;
- It requires companies to take and report hazard-related precautions, including supply chain monitoring, when importing deforestation-related products.
- Increase US cooperation and support for countries taking significant steps to improve governance and reduce deforestation.
- Strengthening tools to combat deforestation and financial crimes related to deforestation; And
- Establish federal procurement options for zero-deforestation products.
We look forward to working with you as part of a broader policy and regulatory framework to prevent the extinction and destruction of all natural ecosystems and to protect these important ecosystems for the future of our climate, health and planet.
Signatories
Accountability Laboratory
Action Aid America
Amazon Watch
Amnesty International USA
American Development Center
Center for Biological Diversity
International Environmental Law Center
A combination of child labor
Delmarva Christian Council
Climate consultants
Protection International
Corporate Accountability Laboratory
Earthrights International
A combination of extinct species
Environmental Investigation Agency
Fair World Project
Forest trends
Earth Friends US
Global Financial Integrity
Global Witness
Green America
Human Rights Watch
Earth Island Institute International Mammalian Project
International rights activists
Freedom is shared.
Merikol for the Office of International Affairs
Powerful land
National Consumer League
National Wildlife Federation
Ocean Protection Association
A nature
Oxfam America
R2H action [Right to Health]USA
Rainforest action network
Rainforest combination
Again: Wild
Riverb
Mercy Sisters of the American Justice Team
Slow factory
Southwest Environmental Center
Nature conservation
World Wildlife Fund
This letter was posted by the EIA and other signatories
1 Around 42,000 square miles a year, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s annual deforestation estimates for 2010-2020.
2 For a recent analysis of the potential of tropical forests, see Crisis Griscom et al. National declining potential for tropical climate solutions. Phil. Trans from the Royal Society B’s Biological Sciences (2020); For a recent analysis of the role of forest and wildlife conservation in preventing zonal epidemics, see Dobson and others. Ecology and economics to prevent the epidemic. Science (July 24, 2020); And Tolefson, Jeff. Why deforestation and extinction further exacerbate the epidemic. Nature (August 7, 2020).
3 World Bank Group Independent Review Team, 2013. Forest World Resource Management for Sustainable Development Review of the World Bank Group Experience.
4 Overview of the situation in Brazil See Human Rights Watch’s letter to the OECD, January 27, 2021.
5 See, for example, Emmanuel Otolengi, The Dispatch, March 19, 2021. Good climate policy must fight corruption and organized crime are major causes of deforestation and environmental degradation.
6 Forest Trends, May 18, 2021. Illegal Production, Complex Goods for Agricultural Illegal Deforestation.
7 Forest Trends, op. City
8 See for example Delivery orders for palm oil products made by US customs and border protection palm oil and two major Malaysian palm oil manufacturers, Sim Darby Plantation and FGV Holdings Berhad; United States Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor, Child Labor Exploitation Website on Cocoa Production; Repórter Brasil, January 2021. Slave labor in the Brazilian meat industry *, summarized by Reuters.
9 To analyze volunteer commitment by major companies, see 500 Forest Annual Review.
10 For the most recent commentary, see Justin Adams, Financial Times commentary, August 7, 2019. Companies alone cannot solve deforestation.
11 See the latest statements from the European Parliament and the United Kingdom for more information.
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