Some governments of consumer countries are exploring new policy options to address deforestation and forest degradation. Such options include unilateral trade-related measures, forestry-specific environmental provisions contained in regional trade agreements, voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) and consumer country mandatory due diligence requirements.

The session aims at

i.            providing for an exchange of views on the role of novel trade-related instruments based on process and production methods (PPMs) to help reduce deforestation and forest degradation associated with “forest-risk commodities”, as well as enabling more sustainable supply chains;

ii.           taking stock of recent policy developments such as the legislation at the level of the European Union on due diligence requirements and the outcomes of COP26 specific measures;

iii.          discussing potential implications of measures for farmers and producers in developing countries;

iv.          discussing how measures interact with the multilateral trade rules, the extent to which such rules foster a more sustainable production and how the WTO members can contribute to anchoring more sustainability considerations into the multilateral trading system.