- Asian markets mixed after Wall St drop, Shanghai dips before briefing
- Automaker Stellantis says CEO will retire in 2026
- Musk's promised robotaxi unveil delayed
- Kamada says Japan can close in on World Cup place against Australia
- On US coast, wind power foes embrace 'Save the Whales' argument
- Renewables revolt in Sardinia, Italy's coal-fired island
- Argentina held, Brazil leave it late in 2026 World Cup qualifiers
- Obama blasts 'crazy' Trump in first rally for Harris
- 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, a plea in favour of world order?
- Fry homers as Guardians down Tigers to stay alive in MLB playoffs
- Japan PM presses China's Li on airspace intrusion
- In Trump 'Truths,' conspiracies, attacks -- and doubts about the election
- How Sebastian Stan found a 'relatable' Trump for 'The Apprentice' biopic
- Panama's water wheel trash collector keeps plastic at bay
- It's still 'the economy, stupid,' says US political guru Carville
- Five key dates in the history of the America's Cup
- Zelensky to meet Pope, Scholz as whirlwind Europe tour ends
- At least 10 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Far from eye, Hurricane Milton's deadly tornados rampaged Florida
- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Argentina held, Bolivia stun Colombia in 2026 qualifiers
- Socceroos have 'nothing to fear' from Japan
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs sex trafficking trial set for May 2025
- Bolivia stun Colombia in World Cup qualifiers
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Greece earn late win against England in Nations League, Italy-Belgium stalemate
- Trump biopic 'The Apprentice' hits US theaters weeks before election
- Pavlidis dedicates 'special' Greece win over England to tragic Baldock
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- 'Like a quake': Beirut shaken after deadliest strikes on centre
- Fallen giants Ghana in AFCON trouble after Sudan draw
- Asian leaders meet in Laos with US, Russia on world turmoil
- England gamble backfires as Pavlidis fires emotional Greece to victory
- Obama stumps for Harris, Trump talks US protectionism
- New-look France ease past Israel in Nations League
- Belgium fight back to draw with 10-man Italy in Nations League
- 'Get a life': Hurricane whips up US election storm
- Japan stay perfect in World Cup qualifying
- Relief as Lebanon evacuees dock in Turkey
- Lebanon says 22 dead in Israeli strikes on central Beirut
- NBA boss Silver sees games back in China 'at some point'
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22
- Table tennis and Netflix push Ukraine teen into French Open contention
- Civilians flee Gaza's Jabalia in tightening Israeli siege
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 18
- At least 10 dead in Florida from tornadoes caused by Hurricane Milton
- Warhol's rare 'Queen' collection opens at Dutch museum
- Three-time NBA champion Green retires
- MLB Twins up for sale after 40 years
- S.Sudan floods affect 893,000, over 241,000 displaced: UN
Brazil's Indigenous people turn to EU to save their savanna
An EU law banning deforestation-derived products comes into effect at the end of 2024, but for Brazilian Indigenous people it contains an unbearable loophole: the Cerrado, Brazil's vast wooded savanna, is excluded from its scope.
An Indigenous delegation taking up the issue during a visit to Brussels said that the oversight -- for a region that supplies Europe with soy -- is "a question of survival" for them.
"The Cerrado is my home," declared Eliane Xunakalo, her feathered headdress waving in Belgium's spring weather.
The president of the Federation of Indigenous Peoples of Mato Grosso, one of the big Brazilian states across which the savanna extends, she visited Brussels last week with other activists to press the European Union to "improve" its anti-deforestation law.
Adopted last year, the legislation requires importers to show their products come from "deforestation-free supply chains" and not from land deforested after 2020.
Its scope covers palm oil, beef, soy, coffee, cocoa, timber and rubber as well as derived products such as furniture and chocolate. It comes into force at the end of December this year.
However the definition of "forest" in the text does not extend to wooded ecosystems such as the Cerrado, which extends through central Brazil and into neighbouring Paraguay and Bolivia.
Much of the soy imported into Europe comes from that zone, and deforestation within it jumped 43 percent last year.
- Reaching point of 'no return' -
The European Commission this year will study possibly enlarging the anti-deforestation law to include other ecosystems and products. The revision will depend on the outcome of a debate between EU member countries and the European Parliament which could take place next year.
For Brazil's Indigenous people, though, urgency is needed.
"Half of the Cerrado has already disappeared," its prairies and woods giving way to farms turning out soy or other crops, said Isabel Figueiredo of the Brazilian NGO ISPN (Instituto Sociedade, Populacao e Natureza).
That agriculture and deforestation is preventing water from seeping down to refill artesian supplies, she said.
After harvests, the Cerrado resembles a patchwork of expansive brown-earth fields punctuated with some growths of native green vegetation. Farm output is only profitable for big multinational companies able to produce at scale.
"The risk is that this amazing ecosystem, with its immense biodiversity and carbon-capture and climate-regulation capacities, will just collapse, and with it its ability to supply water to all parts of Brazil," Figueiredo warned.
"That would be a point of no return," she said.
Samuel Caetano, from another NGO, Cerrado Network, underlined that including the Cerrado in the European law "is a question of survival".
The savanna largely feeds into the Amazon basin's watercourses, "guaranteeing the hydrological balance of Latin America," he said.
The EU may require importers to abide by environmental rules in producing countries, but "the Cerrado is not protected by Brazilian laws -- most of the Brazilian laws are looking at the Amazon," said Giulia Bondi, of the NGO Global Witness.
- Law's 'wider impact' -
For now, NGOs and activists are looking closely at how the existing legislation will be applied.
The EU's environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius in mid-March visited Paraguay, Bolivia and Ecuador to address criticisms they have of the new law.
The bloc has offered technical and financial help for importers to get their tracing systems up to the needed level, responding to complaints that the EU changes will be costly for smaller farms.
"The regulation is indeed quite challenging in terms of traceability, and in terms of the data and data flow that is needed for it to work," said Nicole Polsterer, from the NGO Fern.
But that should be "favourable" for smallholders as "they would be more visible" if larger companies support them, she said.
Eliane Xunakalo said: "We really hope that this law will have wider impact on Brazil, creating political pressure for greater oversight."
Bondi, of Global Witness, noted that the EU does require companies to uphold human rights laws in producing countries.
She said companies must be required to respect Indigenous peoples' rights in line with national laws.
The EU requirements "can also be used as a tool" to put pressure on the Brazilian government to uphold Indigenous rights, she added.
B.Finley--AMWN