“No further delays,” that is according to one of the world’s top scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who now wants a “frank discussion and assessment of how the EUDR can be tracked.”
Dr Robert Waterworth, publisher of multiple works, including the 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, has provided the following statement to Wood Central in the wake of the European Commission’s push to delay the EUDR by another 12 months.
Wood Central has decided to publish the statement in full:
“For those like myself that have worked on deforestation issues for decades, the delay of the EUDR process seems like yet another roadblock. Since I started working on forest carbon, hundreds of millions of Mha has been lost. Watching plantations such as palm oil and soy march ceaselessly across landscapes and broadscale clearing for grazing has been beyond frustrating.
We need to be frank here: voluntary commitments and efforts have failed. Market mechanisms, both voluntary and government run, have largely failed (REDD+ especially, but more on that later…). Regulation on landholders has worked when implemented, tracked and enforced – but this is rare and often implemented only when it is too late.
Given the above, the push to move to a commodity-based process is necessary. I am not suggesting that EUDR is the silver bullet – far from it. But it’s the best tool we have for the moment. Stopping deforestation is not going to be simple. EUDR still needs to be backed by national policies, reporting processes (such as TFND) and new innovative markets. But it is a new process, with precedent in timber regulations, that has driven a new wave of effort to stop deforestation.
So, now that this decision has been made, what do we do with the next 15 months? Firstly, industry and industry groups need to take proper action – not just trying to redefine the issue and hiding behind motherhood statements. Yes, there are issues with the regulation, but these need to be addressed in a sensible and collaborative manner. Secondly, Governments need to support these industries in their countries. Thirdly, we need frank discussion and assessment of how EUDR can be tracked – while there has been a huge focus on remote sensing, it is not the only solution, and in many cases not the best one. And finally, there will be no excuses next time. Groups that claim to have been caught unaware are now well aware. Commodities that are not yet covered need to note that they likely will be sooner rather than later. So, there should be no further delays – the time for action was decades ago, and every year counts.”
Act Now: A 24-month delay could emit CO2 equivalent to 376 million long-haul flights.
In July, Global Witness revealed that a two-year postponement could expose the EU to 300,769 hectares of deforestation – the equivalent to an estimated 120 megatons of CO2, or 376 million long-haul flights.
“Any delays in implementing the EU’s anti-deforestation regulation jeopardises global efforts to combat climate change and protect biodiversity – with our research demonstrating the potential scale of this impact,’ said Giulia Bondi, a Senior EU Campaigner at Global Witness.”Postponing the EUDR’s implementation would capitulate to industry pressure, favouring short-term profits over the urgent need for a carbon-neutral future. The science is clear – we cannot afford a delay.”
For more information on EUDR and its impact on global furniture supply chains, visit Wood Central’s special feature on EUDR and its implications for the European supply chain for timber and paper-based products.
Dr Robert Waterworth’s published works include:
- IPCC Lead Author (2019) Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
- Co-authored Integrating remote-sensing and ground-based observations for estimation of emissions and removals of greenhouse gases in forests: Methods and Guidance from the Global Forest Observations Initiative.(2016)
- Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, (2004 to 2010), Australia’s National Inventory Report. Volume 2 (Significant lead on writing and editing text, and development of Inventory emissions estimates)
- Co-authored Approaches to REDD+ Nesting: Lessons Learned from Country Experiences, World Bank (2019)
- Co-authored ‘Validation of allometric biomass models: How to have confidence in the application of existing models’ Forest Ecology and Management 2018
- Co-authored ‘Long term earth observation data for forest carbon tracking: Australia’s experience and global developments’, International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment, International Symposium for Remote Sensing of the Environment, Sydney, NSW. 2011
- Co-authored ‘A trial of landcover change carbon accounting in Guangxi province’, 7th International Symposium on Digital Earth, August 23-25, Perth. International Society for Digital Earth, 2011, 8.
- Co-authored, ‘Multi-scale Forest Inventory and Modelling for Multi-purpose Management’, Journal of Forest Planning, vol. 16, pp. 133-139. 2011
- Co-authored, ‘Monitoring Australian Continental land cover changes using Landsat imagery as a component of assessing the role of vegetation dynamics on terrestrial carbon cycling’, Proceedings of ESA Living Planet Symposium, held on 28 June – 2 July 2010, Bergen, Norway.
- Co-authored, ‘One Measure of Quality and Disturbance can be used to Improve Estimates of Almost Anything’, IUFRO Division 4.01 Conference, International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), Australia, p. 1. 2009
- Lead author, ‘Implementing Australian forest management practices into a full carbon accounting model’, Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 1, no. 255, pp. 2434-2443. 2008
- Co-authored, ‘Fertiliser and irrigation effects on wood density at various heights for Pinus radiata’, European Journal of Forest Research, vol. 127, pp. 63-70. 2008
- Lead author, ‘A generalised hybrid process-empirical model for predicting plantation forest growth’, Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 238, no. 1-3, pp. 231-243. 2007
- Lead author, ‘Effects of irrigation of N fertilization on growth and structure of Pinus radiata stands between 10 and 29 years of age’, Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 239, pp. 169-181. 2007
- UNFCCC, Expert reviewer of country-level GHG inventories
- World Bank, Expert reviewer for the FCPF
- GHG-P, Lead author for Land Sector Removals and Guidance
