In 2022, the Greens/European Free Alliance group in the EU Parliament commissioned Trase to assess a critical element of the proposed EU deforestation regulation (EUDR): its scope and definition of forests and the resulting exclusion of highly biodiverse biomes such as Brazil’s Cerrado and the Gran Chaco in Argentina and Paraguay.
Trase’s analysis revealed for the first time the scale of the gap. The EUDR leaves three quarters of the Cerrado (79 million hectares) and a third of the Gran Chaco (32 million hectares) unprotected. Yet most of the conversion associated with the EU’s soy and beef imports from South America is in these areas.
Trase's analysis also demonstrated that if the proposal was amended to extend the scope to 'other wooded land', as proposed by the European Parliament’s rapporteur, it would decrease the unprotected Cerrado area from 74% to 18% and reduce the unprotected Gran Chaco area from 33% to 24%.
This analysis helped to evidence the size of the impact and ensure the inclusion of a review on extending the EUDR to other wooded land in 2024 and on other natural ecosystems in 2025.
Working with Trase was a key part of our success in strengthening the anti-deforestation regulation (EUDR). Their data and analysis were not only robust and compelling, but they were also essential in demonstrating the environmental risks of excluding ecosystems like the Cerrado and the Gran Chaco. Thanks to this collaboration, we convinced the whole European Parliament of the importance of using this definition for the regulation. After the negotiation with the Council, we secured a review clause about the inclusion of ‘other wooded land’ in the final legislation. We couldn’t have done it without Trase’s insight.
Marie Toussaint, member of European Parliament and shadow rapporteur for the EUDR for the Greens/EFA group of the EU Parliament