IS THAT steak legal? They may not realise it, but Europeans are eating produce grown by farmers who have illegally cleared forests in tropical countries, according to a report this week by European NGO FERN.
The report is the first to quantify just how much of this deforestation is unlawful. It links specific illegally produced products to the countries that import them: beef with the UK, soy with France, leather with Italy. The EU imports 25 per cent of soy, 18 per cent of palm oil, 31 per cent of leather and 15 per cent of beef produced illegally, it says.
"The European Union is the biggest importer of these illegal products," says Sam Lawson, the report's author. "We're not saying these commodities should not be imported, we're saying that Europe should be more discerning."
European governments should outlaw the illicit clearance of forests for agriculture, says Lawson. An EU ban on illegal timber imports has helped stamp out unlicensed logging, but agricultural commodities are a much bigger driver of deforestation, he says.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Contraband food"
- Subscribe to New Scientist and you'll get:
- New Scientist magazine delivered every week
- Unlimited access to all New Scientist online content -
a benefit only available to subscribers - Great savings from the normal price
- Subscribe now!
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.
