BANGKOK (AFP) – Environmental and rights groups urged the European Union (EU) yesterday to label Malaysia’s Sarawak region “high risk” under controversial new anti-deforestation rules to be implemented from the end of December.
The EU’s deforestation regulation (EUDR) is due to come into force at the end of the year, although Germany and Brazil have recently joined a string of countries urging that implementation be delayed.
Environmentalists and rights groups have, however, called on the EU to move forward with the regulation.
It will bar imports of a vast range of goods – from coffee to cocoa, soy, timber, palm oil, cattle, printing paper and rubber – if they are produced on land that was deforested after December 2020. It also requires exporters to assess the risk of rights violations associated with production of the commodity.
In a joint statement, a group of Malaysian and international organisations said Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo should be considered “high risk” under the new rules.
Such a designation would mean closer scrutiny of timber and palm oil imported from the region – an unwelcome prospect for Malaysia, which is already pushing back against EUDR.
