Report on a Forest and Rights Observatory
In collaboration with the NGO Fern, Almut Schilling-Vacaflor and Maria-Therese Gustafsson (Univ. Stockholm), have supported the creation of a Forest and Rights Observatory, which aims to collect and visualize data on human rights violations. The European Union and Member States have taken a pioneering role in adopting Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (HREDD) laws, such as the June 2023 adoption of the Regulation on deforestation-free products (EUDR). The EUDR aims to minimise the EU’s deforestation-footprint by prohibiting companies from putting commodities tainted with deforestation on the EU market. Affected products include beef, coffee, cocoa, palm oil, rubber, soy and timber.
To support EUDR implementation, the EU has also committed to establish a Forest Observatory, focusing on deforestation and forest degradation as well as changes in the world’s forest cover. This discussion document presents recommendations for how a Forest and Rights Observatory could be established that would complement the planned EU Forest Observatory. The reflections were developed through desk research and stakeholder workshops with civil society, academia, and public officials in Brazil.
The report is available here: https://www.fern.org/fileadmin/uploads/fern/Documents/2024/Fern_Creating_a_forest_and_rights_observatory_a_Brazilian_case_study.pdf