U.S. and Canadian tribes have accused the European Union of failing to honor a United Nations charter on Indigenous rights when it crafted its forthcoming deforestation rule.
In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and a senior EU official this week, the U.S. Intertribal Timber Council and the British Columbia First Nations Forestry Council argue that they should have been consulted on the rule’s design.
“We fully support the EU’s objective of ending global deforestation,” the groups write. “However, the EUDR was developed without meaningful consultation with Indigenous communities in North America and creates significant challenges for Indigenous Forest management.”
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was passed by the General Assembly in 2007 and encourages countries to work with Indigenous populations on development issues. It is not legally binding in international law but received the backing of almost all of the EU member states.
Although not a sovereign state signatory of the resolution, the EU also confirmed its commitments to the declaration in 2017, according to a statement from the EU diplomatic service.
Indigenous populations across the U.S. and Canada manage a combined 25 million hectares of forest, the groups note, and the sale of timber funds essential services in communities.
“Despite the U.S. and Canada being designated as low-risk countries for deforestation under the EUDR, the regulation imposes complex and costly geolocation and traceability requirements on our supply chains,” the groups write.
Implementation of the EU’s deforestation regulation, which requires importers of commodities like timber, cattle, coffee and soybeans to prove their products are not linked to deforestation, has been delayed multiple times. It is currently set to apply for larger companies from the end of 2026. Smaller operators have until mid-2027 to comply.
U.S. industries have complained that, despite posing negligible risks for deforestation, they will still face onerous reporting requirements, including the collection and submission of precise coordinates of land plots where commodities are grown.
Under the terms of the U.S. and EU trade deal secured in Turnberry, Scotland, last year, the Commission agreed to “work to address the concerns of U.S. producers and exporters,” according to a joint statement.
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For Indigenous communities, the prospect of passing along coordinates to middlemen that sell into the EU market is a significant concern.
“For Indigenous communities, plot-level geolocation requirements raise profound issues of sovereignty, cultural protection, and data security,” the groups write.
The Commission is undertaking a review to identify any areas for simplifying the rule. That effort is supposed to be completed by the end of April.
The North American Indigenous communities are requesting that the Commission to engage in formal consultations, issue carveouts for Indigenous lands and loosen the geographic data requirements to accommodate county-level data, instead of specific plot coordinates.
“These reforms would honor Indigenous rights, sovereignty and stewardship,” the letter concludes. “They would recognize management practices rooted in thousands of years of Indigenous knowledge” and they “would ensure that Indigenous communities can continue to participate in integrated forest-product supply chains and access global markets.”
The National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO), which represents U.S. private forest owners, expressed its support for the letter in an email to Agri-Pulse.
“The European Commission is consciously avoiding serious issues raised by producers in low-risk countries.” said Kate Gatto, NAFO’s chief strategy officer. “They simply haven't done their homework to understand the economics of sustainable forestry, how low-risk supply chains work, or how this law is affecting Indigenous communities and other landowners.”
The European Commission did not respond to Agri-Pulse’s request for comment on the letter.
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