"Making EU trade with Brazil sustainable"

600 scientists call on the EU to make sustainable development the cornerstone of its trade negotiations with Brazil.

The researchers explain in a letter to the journal Science that the country's forests and grbadlands are crucial for nature and climate.

According to them, measures to protect one of the last major forests should be incorporated into the new trade rules.

The EU is currently negotiating with the South American trading bloc, which includes Brazil.

In 2011 alone, the EU imported beef and feeds badociated with Brazilian deforestation equivalent to more than 300 football pitches a day, scientists said.

• The loss of tropical trees persists at high levels

• Amazon deforestation is the worst of the last 10 years

"The EU therefore urgently needs to step up its efforts in the area of ​​sustainable trade and to respect its commitments to respect human rights, protect the environment and protect the environment. and climate change, "say the signatories, led by Laura Kehoe of Oxford University.

They want the EU to subordinate trade negotiations to respect for the rights of indigenous peoples by the Brazilian government. improved procedures to trace products badociated with deforestation and conflict over the rights of indigenous peoples; and consult local communities about the goods traded.

The deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil reached its highest rate in ten years last year, according to official data.

Approximately 7,900 km 2 of the world's largest rainforest was destroyed between August 2017 and July 2018 – an area about five times larger than that of London.