Every year an area of forest about nine times the size of Wales is lost globally due to agricultural production. Welsh campaigners urge that food linked to rainforests’ clearing must be banned in Welsh school dinners to help tackle climate change.
Charities urge the Welsh Government to curb the use of some goods to pave the way for Wales to become the “world’s first deforestation-free nation.” The Welsh Government agrees that tackling global deforestation is vital in responding to the climate crisis and the biodiversity decline.
RSPB Cymru, WWF Cymru, and Size of Wales compiled a report calling for action to limit the number of goods imported into Wales linked to deforestation. The campaigners call for the next Welsh Government to change public procurement rules and ban school and hospital cafeterias from serving up dishes containing these products.
According to Barbara Davies Quy, from Size of Wales, every two seconds, a forest the size of a rugby field is cut down to produce products like soy, beef, palm oil, timber, cocoa, and coffee. These products are imported into Wales and end up in the drinks and food that people consume each day.
Mostly everyone is a part of a deforestation economy. She urged that ministers must demonstrate global leadership in the run-up to the major UN climate conference COP26. This conference is scheduled to take place later this year.
The campaigners hope to see Welsh ministers push the UK government to move ahead with plans in its new environment bill to ban organizations from selling particular goods in the UK if they were grown on land that breaks laws on protecting forests.
In the report, the charities call for the Welsh Government to become a world leader in tackling climate change. That includes calling on ministers not to give companies grants unless they pledge to use deforestation-free supply chains and introduce a new local and sustainable food strategy, with farmers incentivized to stop using imported soy to feed their livestock.
Rhys Evans from RSPB Cymru claims that over 80% of the soy sent to the UK is used for animal feed. He advises the Welsh government to make a food system that drives and rewards local, sustainable farms to fork supply chains and prioritize only sustainable goods overseas. This would not only support livelihoods at home but also abroad.
The campaigners also call for:
- Government greenhouse gas emission targets to include those linked with imported goods that have caused deforestation.
- Ministers to work alongside the UK government to ensure new trade deals obey high environmental standards.
Shea Buckland-Jones, from WWF Cymru, points out that the ministers can influence what ends up on supermarket shelves and shopping baskets. The public alone could make a significant difference by choosing locally produced or fair-trade products when they are food shopping. For example, a new coffee brand recently launched in Cardiff uses sustainably sourced beans from Uganda to help tackle climate change.
In 2019, Norway became the first country in the world to ban deforestation. The Norwegian Parliament pledged that the government’s public procurement policy would be deforestation-free. Norway and Wales are setting an example for other countries to consider similar policies.
