To make sure products on the European market like palm oil and soy are more sustainable and deforestation free, WWF and others NGOs are actively advocating for strong EU action, including legislative measures. As input to law-making, WWF financed a discussion paper written by IEEP, the Institute for European Environmental Policy.

IEEP has designed two sets of sustainability criteria to ensure that Europe is part of the solution. The first set, related to deforestation, ecosystem conversion and degradation, states for example that agricultural and forest commodities placed on the EU market shall not be produced from former forest land or natural ecosystems.

Respect their rights

The second set about human rights says that the production of agricultural and forest commodities respects the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples to use land and resources. Another criterium is that all members of an affected local community or indigenous peoples shall have the opportunity to participate when decisions are made about their environment, including women, youth, elderly and other marginalised groups.

You can read the full sets of criteria here, accompanied by a discussion paper. With the SRJS programme, WWF has funded this study as halting deforestation and respecting human rights are an important part of our policy.