Days before COP15 in Montreal, Canada’s government is accused of wanting to curtail regulations that favor its timber industry over trading without deforestation.
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In a letter to the European Commission, the host country of the UN Biodiversity Conference is said to have asked for “tough traceability requirements” to be reconsidered as part of a draft European Union (EU) program aimed at phasing out wood products of unsustainable origin, the British media reported ” The Guardian.
The letter, signed by Canada’s Ambassador to the EU, Ailish Campbell, also calls for a “gradual” approach to slowing implementation of the program and a review of plans to include “degraded” forests in areas classified as vulnerable.
According to several Green MPs and various environmental groups, this call from the government shows that it gives the paper and timber industry more importance than the international commitment it made during last year’s Glasgow climate conference to ‘stop and reverse’ forest loss and land degradation by 2030 .
“In this letter we can clearly see that Canada wanted to protect its economic interests and not the forest. For a country supposedly committed to preserving natural resources, it’s surprising to say ‘not going too fast’, especially when it’s at the forefront of biodiversity in Montreal in a few weeks’ time. said French MEP and initiator of the new rules, Marie Toussaint.
According to the latter, this new regulation goes further than previous measures, as it not only tackles illegal logging, but also legal and unsustainable practices. This shows that the EU is taking the 2030 target seriously, she said.
“For decades we’ve tried to rely on voluntary reporting and pledges, but we can see it’s not working,” Ms Toussaint added.
The EU’s proposed regulation is a potential game changer for forest conservation as it will set a global standard, says US conservation group Mighty Earh. “It’s a shame that Canada is trying to squeeze out the most important forest legislation that we’ve seen in the last decade,” the group’s founder and chief executive officer, Glenn Hurowitz, told The Guardian.
degradation instead of deforestation
In her letter, Ms. Campbell reminds that the annual rate of deforestation in Canada is less than 0.2%. Therefore, she believes that special attention should be paid to the country as a “low-risk” country. However, reports indicate that many exports come from old-growth forests, which are far more important for biodiversity protection and carbon sequestration than secondary forests.
According to environmental groups, the timber industry typically cuts below the canopy, which is referred to as “degradation” rather than “deforestation.”
However, Ms Campbell believes that the term ‘deterioration’ should not be included in the new EU rules as there is no agreed definition. But scientists insist that degraded land must be included and industrial logging of old-growth forests halted in order to align with a climate-proof world.
“The developed countries know how to speak the language of sustainability. Even when they’re leveling old growth woods, they’re good at gluing green veneer to it. Trudeau presents himself as green, but by pushing for the EU’s forest protection rules to be weakened, he is aligning himself with the likes of them [l’ancien président] Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. Canada has to decide which side it’s on,” said Glenn Hurowitz.