Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Deferred
Paragraph: 78
Schedule 17 due diligence system insufficient due to exclusion of legal deforestation.
Conclusion
The due diligence system established under Schedule 17 will prohibit the use of illegally produced commodities with reference to compliance with local laws. This means that products of legal deforestation will not be within the scope of the system, unlike comparable EU legislation. This is regrettable. Only 31% of deforestation globally is illegal; the wide variation in the strength of local laws on deforestation is a weakness of this approach, and there is the possibility of deregulation in response to the UK’s due diligence requirements.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government stated the FCDO is developing a business case for a follow-on 10-year forest governance programme that will have a broader remit, looking beyond timber to illegal deforestation, but did not commit to amending Schedule 17 to include legal deforestation.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
78
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
The Environment Act will require large organisations that use forest risk commodities in their commercial activity in the UK to ensure that those commodities were produced in compliance with local laws relating to land ownership and use. It recognises the primacy of national and sub-national governments’ decisions in determining the management of their natural resources. Commodity-driven deforestation is widely conducted in violation of national laws; at least 69% of tropical deforestation from 2013–2019 associated with commercial agriculture is estimated to be illegal.1 This rate is higher in many key producer countries from which the UK imports and significantly higher for the four commodities proposed for initial regulation. Supporting countries to eliminate the illegal production of forest risk commodities therefore has the potential to significantly reduce global forest loss. We believe that the only way to achieve zero global deforestation in supply chains is to work in partnership with producer countries – and that working in partnership requires us to uphold and respect national laws.2 Our due diligence legislation is accompanied by a wider package of measures to support producer countries in strengthening their forest governance and domestic laws. Our experience has shown that implementing a legality-based approach under the Timber Regulations and the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Action Plan has contributed to improved forest governance, including strengthened regulations that provide legal backing for sustainable forestry in these countries. Similarly, in relation to the UK Forest Risk Commodity scheme, our aim is to encourage governments in producer countries to strengthen and improve environmental protections in their legislative frameworks. Through this approach we have the potential to influence all production within a country, rather than just what the UK imports, thereby reducing the risk of market redirection leakage. Schedule 17 of the Environment Act commits the Government to publishing a review into the effectiveness of the Forest Risk Commodity scheme in reducing commodity-driven deforestation two years after it comes into force. This review will consider, among other indicators, any changes to national laws that provide protection for forests, in order to ensure that our legislation is having the intended impact.
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