Project Summary
The urgency and gravity of climate change push for effective mitigation and adaptation actions. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and biodiversity loss are just some of the consequences demanding immediate attention. Faced with the shortcomings of climate change governance, State and non-State actors are increasingly turning to judicial institutions to advance their claims for environmental protection. By requesting advisory opinions on the interpretation of treaties or the international obligations regarding climate change, State and non-State actors can gain valuable legal clarity and potentially strengthen their claims for environmental protection. Furthermore, deforestation, a critically overlooked issue that exacerbates climate change, compels international institutions to adopt dedicated regulatory instruments to tackle it effectively. Forests play a vital role in carbon sequestration, and deforestation releases significant amounts of greenhouse gases back into the atmosphere. By strengthening regulations on trade, promoting sustainable forest management practices, and enforcing existing environmental laws, international institutions can play a crucial role in curbing deforestation and mitigating climate change.
Considering the multilateral gap on forest protection framework, several countries and international organizations are already seeking to address the issue by their own mechanisms. Such is the case with the European Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR). The EUDR presents both opportunities and challenges for producing countries. The Regulation brings a different approach to international forest governance as it lays down rules regarding the ‘placing and making available on the European Union (EU) market, as well as the export from the Union’ of seven specific commodities and their subproducts: cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soy, and wood.
Brazil, as a major producer and dependent on the export of its commodities, is very sensitive to how this issue could affect its economy. In particular, Brazilian stakeholders are concerned about how they should prepare for the EUDR’s implementation, how they might be affected by it and what conflicts may arise. Thus, the research project aims to comprehensively assess the EUDR's multifaceted impacts through the lens of Brazil's legal and policy landscape, and provide tools for the conception, development, enforcement and compliance of rules and monitoring mechanisms concerning forests in the country.
Objectives
In-depth analysis of international, regional and national forest regulation
Assessment of the legal and policy impacts in Brazil
Enhance stakeholders’ decision-making capacities through dissemination
Methodology
In order to achieve the main objective of the project, a mixed methodological approach is employed comprising bibliographical and normative review, the collection and analysis of international trade data, and semi-structured interviews with relevant stakeholders. The complexity of the project requires the conduction of a multidisciplinary study with the use of methodological pluralism. Mixed methods are employed in all stages of the research, i.e. data collection and analysis. This project also employs a comparative methodological approach to draw differences and similarities between EU norms - the EUDR, previous initiatives and other relevant norms such as the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) - and those which are applicable to forest ecosystems in Brazil. Thus, the results of this study contribute to both conjecturing scenarios and proposing recommendations for decision-makers and other stakeholders in brazil and - potentially - other countries.
Funding
