Deforestation-free supply chains: Are smallholders in Congo victims?

In view of the EU regulation on deforestation-free supply chains, Congolese smallholder representative Kambale Malembe speaks of a new kind of colonization. From the fall of 2024, anyone who imports cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy, timber and livestock into the EU will have to guarantee that forests have not previously been cleared at the place of origin for the cultivation of the plants or the keeping of the livestock. Violations will be punished. The EU wants to take action against companies that clear forests on a grand scale in the Amazon and in Southeast Asia to make room for plantations and cattle herds.