03/10/2022
Brazil and EU to discuss sustainability and traceability of meat and leather value chains in Brasilia
The European Commission, through the AL-INVEST Verde programme, in collaboration with IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute), has organised the closing conference of the “Dialogues on sustainability and traceability in the meat and leather value chains”.
The European Union Ambassador to Brazil, Ignacio Ybáñez, opened the meeting, which was also attended by Paolo Garzotti, Head of Unit for Trade Relations with Latin America at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade, and Marcella Teixeira, General Coordinator of Animal Production at the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply.
In his speech, Ybáñez considered that the current moment is decisive for “the transition towards greener economies” and said that “Brazil and the European Union have a unique opportunity to work together to build instruments that promote more sustainable value chains”. His objective, he said, is to “contribute to the fight against climate change and the loss of biodiversity associated with global deforestation”.
Paolo Garzotti considered that “the traceability of meat and leather could be an important and symbolic element for a sustainable trade relationship” between Brazil and the European Union.
Marcella Teixeira referred to the new version of Brazil’s Sectoral Plan for Adaptation and Low Carbon Emission in Agriculture and Livestock (ABC+ Plan), which in its first decade of implementation “surpassed all the goals set”.
At the end of 2021, AL-INVEST Verde and IPAM organised a roundtable to analyse the situation of the meat and leather value chains in Brazil. This event was followed by three technical dialogues in mid-2022, from which IPAM has conducted a study on traceability systems. The results of this study were presented at the conference by IPAM’s executive director, André Guimarães.
After this presentation, the event concluded with two more round tables that analysed the role of the private sector in transparency and traceability in meat and leather value chains, as well as the role of the public sector in promoting transparency and traceability systems to reduce the risk of deforestation.
