The stakes are high. The EU imports over €170 billion agri-food products annually, making it one of the world's largest agricultural import markets.
By
Elikplim Agbitor
Head, Africa Market Transformation
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
For much of the past two years, debate around the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) has focused on risks. Exporters worry about rising compliance costs. Cooperatives fear the burden of collecting geolocation data from thousands of smallholder farmers. Policymakers question whether the regulation shifts the cost of environmental protection onto producing countries.
Smallholders produce significant quantities of Vietnam’s coffee, Indonesia’s palm oil, and Thailand’s rubber exported into the…
The European Union has dropped leather from its final list of products targeted under the bloc’s landmark antideforestation law.…
Colombia palm oil and coffee exports are booming, but a December 2026 EU deforestation rule could gate their access to the vital…
The leather industry spent most of the last year intensifying an already determined lobbying campaign in Brussels to win an…
African countries are rapidly expanding palm oil production to cut costly imports, but the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil…
Ubalijoro said the continent's forests and trees should be seen as strategic assets capable of driving economic transformation.
