Samenvatting

The main cause of deforestation and forest degradation is the expansion of agricultural land to produce various commodities. For this reason, the European Commission has developed a new regulation on deforestation-free products. Particularly palm oil is becoming increasingly important in terms of imports for the manufacture of various products. Palm oil is used in various products, especially in the food industry, but also in animal feed production. In the livestock feed industry, there is a choice of many different products that use palm oil as a raw material. Therefore, an increased use of forest land for the cultivation of palm oil plantations can be seen. Since palm oil is very versatile, the demand for palm oil is also increasing. To minimise and reduce deforestation, the European Commission has proposed a new regulation to curb this. By promoting so-called “deforestation-free” products and minimising the EU's influence on this deforestation, the aim is to preserve biodiversity and minimise greenhouse gas emissions.