Photo by Axel Fassio/CIFOR-ICRAF
The EU anti-deforestation regulation (EUDR), which would prevent companies from placing products linked to deforestation in the EU market, is so far scheduled to go into force Jan. 1, 2025. Smallholder associations part of supply chains for products like cocoa, coffee and palm oil from Africa and Indonesia say they are prepared for the date. However, some reports, such as in Honduras, say there exist smallholders who aren’t even aware of the EUDR, let alone prepared to comply.
“On the one hand, it gives me some breathing room to ensure that I become fully compliant and ready,” said Onyekachi Anozie Uwalaka, a smallholder farmer who grows oil palm and cacao in Nigeria. For him, the prospect of a one-year delay is bittersweet. “On the other hand, it also means that I might lose the momentum I have built up in terms of making these critical changes.”
Trade groups and exporting countries are underlining smallholders’ lack of readiness, and their own, to push for a delay in the law’s implementation. After hearing these calls, the EU Commission introduced the proposal to delay the law by 12 months (for Jan. 1, 2026), a suggestion now awaiting parliamentary approval.
If accepted, researchers, smallholder associations and NGOs, such as Fern, Earthsight and Mighty Earth, say they fear it will kill momentum, allow businesses to prevent its implementation and lead to more deforestation. Between 90% and 99% of deforestation in the tropics is driven directly or indirectly by agriculture. Indigenous and uncontacted communities are also impacted by industrial agriculture that clears forests on their traditional lands, such as cattle ranches in the Chaco and Amazon. According to Global Witness, a delay to the EUDR could lead to global deforestation levels equivalent to almost 14 times the size of Paris, emitting carbon equal to 188 million long-haul flights.
Other researchers, like the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), welcome the delay as an opportunity to refine the regulation, include diverse forest systems and better prepare struggling smallholders.
While speaking with several smallholder associations producing some of the key commodities tied to deforestation, they shared their thoughts about what it would mean for their farms and forests. Although some said it would give them more time to prepare and receive support from the government, others echoed environmentalists, fearing it may lead to a weakening of the law itself and their progress. Governments, like Indonesia, which supplied 39% of the EU’s palm oil imports from 2023-24, have already called for the law to be rolled back in the wake of the delay announcement.
