MEP calls for EU trade to tackle palm oil driven deforestation

The European Commission should increase import duties on palm oil linked to deforestation, according to an MEP drafting the European Parliament’s position on the issue.

MEP Katerina Konecná of the left-wing GUE group also urged the Commission to strengthen environmental measures in its trade agreements to prevent palm oil-related deforestation in her recommendation for the Parliament’s position.

The palm oil industry has expanded at an “unprecedented speed” in the past 20 years, while some of the dangers associated with massive monocultures were underestimated, Konecná said. This has led to the “most rapid deforestation in human history” on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, for example, she added.