UK supermarkets have threatened to boycott Brazil over deforestation – that shows how crucial the Amazon could be to avoid future pandemics

We know that biodiversity is a vital factor in safeguarding against diseases like coronavirus that pass from animals to humans – that’s why it’s so important that companies have taken a stand against Jair Bolsonaro’s destruction of the Amazon

Devestating forest fires, many of them thought to have been started deliberately ripped through the Amazon last year. Now a new law backed by Brazil's president Bolsonaro threatens further deforestation (AFP via Getty Images)

Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro was already facing growing criticism of how he has managed the Covid-19 crisis before he woke up on Tuesday to new alarm bells on the Amazon.

British supermarkets, including Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer, joined over 40 companies signing an open letter, urging Brazil's national legislature to reject a proposed bill - backed by Mr Bolsonaro himself - that could speed up destruction of the world’s most vital forest.

This group of powerful corporates is clear in its warning: pass the bill, and we might boycott any products coming from Brazil linked to damage of this climate-critical region.

The Amazon is already close to breaking point – with deforestation soaring to an 11-year high in 2019, up 29.5 per cent from the year before. It’s not the first time Mr Bolsonaro has been criticised for dismantling forest protections; effective protection that helped achieve a record reduction in deforestation between 2004 and 2012.

Last September, a group of investors with $17 trillion (£14 trillion) under management called on firms to protect the Amazon in the wake of vast forest fires, calling on the Brazilian government to regain control of the blaze and eliminate illegal deforestation (though whether they’ve followed up on this remains to be publicly seen).

In December, 50 NGOs highlighted worrying trends on how meat traders operate in the Amazon, warning their lenders and investors about the risks of financing these companies. The weakening of safeguards against the invasion of indigenous land has also led to outcry from indigenous groups and civil society.

And on the heels of these supermarkets, a group of German MPs have published their own open letter putting pressure on Mr Bolsonaro concerning the new bill.

There is a reason why, in the middle of a massive global health crisis, when so much news has fallen off the radar, preserving the Amazon has remained of grave concern for everyone from civil society to the nation’s biggest supermarkets.

Firstly, UK policy makers, companies and financiers are starting to get to grips with the increasing body of knowledge on our deforestation footprint abroad. We now know the scale of the UK’s damage on forests like the Amazon.

The UK’s imported emissions are massive. This country's imports of commodities – beef, leather, soy, palm oil and timber – require an area more than half the size of the UK to produce. Much of that land is in countries with a high deforestation risk.

Global Witness' investigation into six agribusiness companies involved in the deforestation of tropical forests found UK-based financial institutions to be the largest provider of international credit and finance. Between 2013 and 2019, UK banks and investors backed companies to the tune of £5bn.

If we want to get serious about climate breakdown, then it’s not just decarbonisation and green jobs at home that need to be on the checklist - it’s addressing the impact of the food we eat and the products we consume on huge swathes of climate-critical forests in the Amazon.

Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, removes his face mask to speak during a press conference about the Covid-19 outbreak at the Planalto Palace, in Brazil, 20 March 2020. ( Andressa Anholete/Getty Images) (Andressa Anholete/Getty Images)

Secondly, as we look towards a green recovery - one that is fairer and builds in resilience and well-being - we must acknowledge the role our forests play as enormous and vital biodiversity hotspots.

While the exact cause and transmission of Covid-19 remains unknown, we do know that biodiversity is a vital factor in safeguarding against zoonotic diseases (those that pass from animals to humans).

In a world of uncertainty, keeping forests standing is a clear and real action we can take to help protect our health. This highlights the intangible value of nature and biodiversity in its own right – its true value cannot be ‘costed’, in the same way its destruction cannot be offset.

Thirdly, supermarkets are recognising the need for better oversight of their supply chains and to make them more sustainable. Many people might not have thought about the global supply chains behind products on the supermarket shelf until those products disappeared from the shelves in recent months.

To build a resilient economy in recovery, we must create fairer, more sustainable supply chains - ones that preserve biodiversity, that work for local communities and farmers and do not go back to business as usual.

This doesn’t mean closing ourselves off to international trade and cooperation; it means redirecting our supply chains so they don’t damage other people or environments.

It means listening to communities, particularly indigenous ones, who have protected the world’s great forests for generations and those who are working to build strong, reliable and resilient food systems.

It means implementing the right checks to mitigate risk, increase sustainability and address inequalities accelerated by unfair trade practices.

That’s why three words should be key for the UK government, as it approaches the Environment Bill: mandatory due diligence.

This would require business, including finance, to adopt checks and measures to address any risks their operations may have in contributing to deforestation. Mandatory due diligence would help establish deforestation-free finance and supply chains as standard business practice.

Through this, the government can join some of its biggest supermarkets - and help to protect the Amazon with actions, not just words. By acting on the recommendations of its own Global Resources Initiative to adopt a due diligence law on deforestation, it can take a major, progressive and sustainable step to model UK climate leadership to respect both people and planet.

This would make a bold and important statement - from the UK government and business alike - that they are no longer prepared to be complicit in fuelling the destruction of this vital forest.

Shona Hawkes is senior global policy advisor on forests at Global Witness