More than 20 organizations They have sent a letter to the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchezurging him to take a firm stance on defense of European environmental legislation and not taking a step back from the achievements achieved. There is deep concern for the setbacks in regulations to stop global deforestation, protect the wolf, regulate pesticides and reduce toxic contaminations.
20 organizations and networks defending the environment and social rights, They have sent a letter to the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchezdemanding a clear and forceful position in the defense of European and Spanish environmental legislation.
Do not deregulate, delay or go back in the protection of nature
The letter, which has also been sent to the vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, and the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, underlines the urgency of maintaining the Government’s commitment and not give in to pressures that seek to deregulate, delay or regress in the protection of nature and social rights.
The organizations express their concern about the recent proposal by the European Commission to postpone the entry into force of the regulation on deforestation-free products by one year (2023/1115)which would mean the destruction of 2,300 km2 of forest and would cause 49 Mt of GHG emissions. Furthermore, millions of European citizens who asked for this regulation would be disappointed, and would penalize unjustifiably to countless businesses and small farmers – even outside the EU – who have strongly supported it.
This postponement proposal adds to the setbacks in the wolf protection (Bern Convention); to the measurements and agro-environmental conditions for CAP recipients (2024/1468); to the rejection of Regulation of Sustainable Use of Pesticides (SOUTH); and the delay in the modification of the REACH RegulationAll this occurs while the scientific community warns in its report on the state of the climate in 2024 that “we are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster“, in a society where the 50% of world GDPestimated at 44 trillion dollars, depends on nature.
With this letter, the organizations urge Spain to publicly demonstrate and vote against the European Commission’s proposal to delay the application of the European regulation on deforestation-free products in the Council of the EU, as well as to firmly oppose any future attempt to reopen or lower the ambition of the Nature Restoration Law in all bodies of the UE.