Balancing International Trade and Climate Justice: Legal Perspectives on the EU’s Deforestation Regulation
Forests play a crucial role as natural carbon sinks and protectors of biodiversity. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the world lost approximately 4.2 million square kilometers of forest between 1990 and 2020 – an area nearly twice the size of Saudi Arabia. Agricultural expansion drives almost 90% of global deforestation, with more than half of the forest loss attributed to the conversion of forests into cropland and livestock grazing. This staggering deforestation not only diminishes the planet’s ability to sequester carbon, exacerbating climate change, but also threatens the rich biodiversity that forests support.
2nd December 2024