A report by MPs has found that UK consumption is having an “unsustainable” impact on the world, and contributing particularly highly to deforestation.
Deforestation contributes 11% of global carbon emissions. A study by the RSPB and WWF found that UK imports of just seven forest-risk commodities – soya, cocoa, palm oil, beef and leather, paper, rubber and timber – accounted for a land footprint of 88% of the size of the UK each year.
The environmental audit committee has found that the UK’s deforestation footprint per tonne of product consumed is higher than that of other countries including China, calling it “unsustainable”. It found that products such as soya, cocoa, palm oil, beef and leather may be products of deforestation.
A deforestation footprint is said to be similar to a carbon footprint. It signifies how much deforestation occurs per tonne of product consumed. Scientists have worked out the deforestation footprints of various countries by analysing trade patterns for goods which are linked to high levels of forest destruction.
Recall that the government recently announced that the above products produced by illegal deforestation would be banned from the supply chain. But this only applies to a small part of the problem, because much deforestation is legal in the countries in which it occurs.
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The report, which was released on Thursday, quoted Client Earth saying the ban creates “perverse incentives” for export countries to remove laws that protect forests, so the deforestation becomes legal and as a result the import of associated products to the UK is not banned.
The legislation which was announced in December, has not yet passed through parliament. The UK ban has been criticised for not including popular commodities such as coffee.
MPs on the environmental audit committee have been calling in the report for ministers to develop a target to reduce the UK’s impact on global deforestation as well as a Global Footprint Indicator to demonstrate this impact to the public.
Among other things, the latest report highlights that forests host 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, support the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people and provide vital ecosystem services to support local and global economies.
In the same study, research showed that 40% of the UK’s overseas land footprint was in countries at high risk of deforestation, weak governance arrangements and poor labour standards.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
