Briefing: EU-Mercosur vs the EUDR

The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest tropical forest. It is critical for a livable Earth: this forest absorbs massive amounts of carbon and regulates weather patterns. It’s home to unparalleled biodiversity and provides livelihoods for millions of people. Yet, the Amazon is profoundly vulnerable. Approximately 17% of the Amazon has already been lost due to deforestation and studies show that 38% of the Amazon suffers from some kind of degradation. This means the rainforest is dangerously close to an irreversible collapse: its tipping point, also called its point of no return, is estimated by scientists to be between 20% and 25% of forest loss. Deforested areas in the Amazon are primarily converted into cattle pasture and croplands for animal feed, with pastures occupying 77% of deforested areas in 2020.

As the world prepares for COP30 in the Amazon, political leaders should act on their promises to halt deforestation and forest degradation - so that the Amazon rainforest can breathe and thrive. The recently concluded trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay), however, goes in the opposite direction.

The deal:

• promotes an increase of trade in agricultural commodities, like beef or soy, whilst having only weak provisions that fail to prevent deforestation;

• threatens to create a chilling effect against new environmental and human rights measures and weakens the implementation and enforcement of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR);

• sets a dangerous precedent for trade deals with other countries where large areas of forest are located, such as Indonesia and Malaysia.

For the sake of the Amazon rainforest, and of other biomes in the Mercosur countries that are under threat of conversion or degradation (such as the Cerrado, the Pantanal, the Gran Chaco and the Mata Atlantica), of the rights of Indigenous People and of our collective future on this planet, policy-makers must reject the EU-Mercosur deal and instead stand up for a strong EUDR and ensure that this Regulation is strictly enforced from the end of 2025.

This briefing illustrates the expected effects of certain provisions of the EU-Mercosur deal on the implementation and enforcement of the EUDR and, potentially, on other EU environmental legislation.