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Environment

Deforestation

The EU aims to protect and improve the health of existing forests, especially primary forests, while significantly increasing sustainable, biodiverse forest coverage worldwide.

Overview

Forests are rapidly disappearing around the world. Deforestation and forest degradation are the biggest threats to forests.

Around 10% of the world’s forests, an area larger than the European Union, have been lost worldwide through deforestation over the past 30 years, and about 10% of forests globally are severely fragmented with little or no connectivity. While this is not a new phenomenon, the current scale and pace of destruction is alarming. This magnitude of destruction has significant social, economic and environmental impacts, locally and globally.

Deforestation is a main driver of climate change and biodiversity loss, and the EU contributes to it by consuming a significant share of products associated with deforestation. The EU, therefore, has the responsibility to contribute to ending it.

Objectives

In line with the 2019 Communication on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests, the EU aims to improve the health of existing forests, and significantly increase sustainable, biodiverse forest coverage worldwide. The EU has five main priorities

  • reduce the footprint of EU consumption on land and encourage EU consumption of products from deforestation-free supply chains
  • work in partnership with producer countries to reduce pressures on forests
  • strengthen international cooperation to halt deforestation and forest degradation and encourage forest restoration
  • redirect finance to support more sustainable land-use practices
  • support the availability and quality of information on forests and commodity supply chains, the access to that information, and support research and innovation

'The Road to Green'

Watch episode 8 of our Euronews series below, which looks at deforestation and how cocoa can be grown sustainably so that it doesn't lead to the destruction of forests.

Timeline

  1. 30 June 2025
    Regulation on deforestation-free products enters into application for Micro and Small undertakings
  2. 30 December 2024
    Regulation on deforestation-free products enters into application
  3. 29 June 2023
    Regulation on deforestation-free products enters into force
  4. 9 June 2023
    Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 published in the Official Journal of the European Union
  5. December 2022
    European Union agrees Regulation on deforestation-free products

    This Regulation aims to guarantee that the products EU citizens consume do not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation worldwide. It will repeal the EU Timber Regulation. Once the Regulation is in force, operators and traders as well as competent authorities will have a deadline to prepare for the new rules.

    Find out more

  6. November 2021
    European Commission adopts proposal for a Regulation on deforestation-free products

    Alongside the proposal, the Commission published an evaluation of the existing EU Timber Regulation and the FLEGT Regulation.

    Find out more 

  7. 23 July 2019
    European Commission adopts the 2019 Communication on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests

The EU Timber Regulation (which will be repealed when the Deforestation Regulation enters into application in December 2024) and the FLEGT Regulation