Their pledge stated that Norway would “promote national commitments that encourage deforestation-free supply chains, including through public procurement policies to sustainably source commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef and timber.” The move is expected to make a significant impact across the globe, with hopes that other nations will follow their example.
The way in which Norway have introduced their new laws means that they will no longer utilise any products that stem from deforestation, which will present a knock-on effect to countries along the supply chain outside of Europe such as Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil and Malaysia. Should other countries follow suit, pressure will increase on such countries to manufacture products for trade that are not linked to deforestation.
Deforestation is having a devastating impact across the globe. Tropical forests store carbon, and so are crucial to curbing climate change. They also provide a biodiversity-rich habitat for wildlife (90% of the planet’s wildlife can be found in tropical forests alone) as well as a livelihood for indigenous and local communities. Despite this, in the first 15 years following the millennium, over 300 million hectares worth of trees were lost due to make way for practices such as logging, mining and palm oil plantations.
