• Deforestation-free supply chains
13. November 2020

During Germany’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) kindly invites EU member states representatives, policy makers as well as stakeholders from civil society and the private sector to discuss the legislative own-initiative report on deforestation-free supply chains of the European Parliament – in light of the forthcoming EU legislative proposal.

BMZ welcomes the European Parliament’s and the European Commission’s processes towards eliminating deforestation from EU supply chains: Following the EU Communication on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests from July 2019, the European Parliament has adopted the legislative own-initiative report on an EU legal framework to halt and reverse EU-driven global deforestation on 22 October. Furthermore, the European Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Farm to Fork Strategy have confirmed the commitment of the European Commission to present, in 2021, a legislative proposal and other measures to avoid or minimize the placing of products associated with deforestation or forest degradation on the EU market.

Against this background, BMZ would like to discuss the European Parliament’s legislative own-initiative report from a development perspective with the following guests:

  • Norbert Barthle, Parliamentary State Secretary, BMZ
  • Delara Burkhardt, MEP, ENVI-rapporteur for the legislative own-initiative report on deforestation-free supply chains
  • Felipe García Echeverri, Ambassador of Colombia to Belgium, Luxemburg and Head of Mission to the EU
  • Hugo-Maria Schally, Head of Unit “Multilateral Environmental Cooperation”, DG Environment (DG ENV) of the European Commission
  • Conceição Ferreira, Senior Advisor on Forest Policy, Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), Portuguese EU Council Presidency 2021
  • Barbara Wettstein, Senior Public Affairs Manager Responsible Sourcing, Nestlé SA
  • Clotilde Henriot, Trade and Environment Lead, ClientEarth
  • Sebastian Lesch, Head of Division, Division 121 “International Agricultural Policy, Agriculture, Innovation”, BMZ