Europe’s Consumption Threatens Key Carbon-Absorbing Ecosystems, WWF Says
- WWF says the EU’s deforestation proposal needs broadening
- Savannahs, peatlands are among the key ecosystems under threat
Cattle on a farm in Maraba, Para state, Brazil.
Photographer: Jonne Roriz/BloombergThe European Union could be responsible for destroying some of the world’s important carbon sinks and a few remaining pockets of biodiversity if it doesn’t do more to curtail the environmental impact of its consumption of commodities, according to the WWF.
More than half of South America’s Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse savannah, has been cleared largely as a result of soy and beef production, with the EU responsible for 19% of the region’s beef exports. Other ecosystems such as the Argentine Chaco, Sumatra’s peatland and the Cuvette Centrale in Democratic Republic of Congo similarly have been affected by the bloc’s demand for palm oil, timber and other commodities, the group said in a report released Tuesday.