MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th December, 2019) The Council of the European Union has approved a set of measures aimed at tackling global deforestation in the wake of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's new "Green Deal," a press release stated on Monday.
European leaders voiced their approval to support measures that will lead to the sustainable managing of all types of forests, an end to deforestation, restoration of damaged forests and reforestation, while noting that current action at a global level is not doing enough to prevent deforestation within European Union supply chains, the press release read.
European states have devoted significant attention to preventing deforestation in Europe, and overall levels of forestation have increased since 1990, according to both the United Nations and European Parliament. However, a May 2019 peer-reviewed study published in the Global Environmental Change journal claimed that one-sixth of the carbon footprint created by diets in the European Union is caused by deforestation.
"[EU states recognize] the significant role of EU imports of agricultural commodities and the importance of enhanced action with a view to ensuring sustainable and deforestation-free value chains and STRESS the importance of awareness-raising and promotion of deforestation-free consumption in the EU," the latest EU Council proposals state.
Earlier in June, leading environmental NGO Greenpeace predicted that as many as 123.5 million acres of forest, comprising an area the size of Spain, may have been lost between 2010 and 2020. Increased deforestation is both the result of the increased likelihood of forest fires in countries such as Brazil and Australia, due to rising temperatures and reduced rainfall, as well as deforestation for agricultural clearance.
Upon assuming the role of European Commission president on December 1, Ursula von der Leyen has called on European leaders to sign her "Green Deal," a comprehensive set of policies that will make Europe a carbon-neutral region by 2050. On December 12, the European Council gave its approval to von der Leyen's new policy proposals, and the deal will be put to the European parliament next year.
