A coalition group of Irish environmental non-government organisations (NGOs) is urging the next government to “reject” the EU-Mercosur agreement, warning that it will threaten the future of family farms.
The Environmental Pillar, which includes 32 national, independent NGOs, has submitted a letter to the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and Minister for Agriculture, stating that the EU-Mercosur deal will “drive habitat loss, exacerbate the climate and biodiversity crisis, while driving unfair competition, accelerating the collapse of many family farms across Ireland”.
Dr. Elaine McGoff, who is an Environmental Pillar steering committee member and head of advocacy at An Taisce, said that “agricultural intensification and deforestation, compounded by climate change” has already led to the the loss and degradation of ecosystems such as the Cerrado and the Amazon rainforest.
“The EU-Mercosur trade deal is designed to ramp up trade in products that are driving the destruction of these ecosystems that are critical to global biodiversity and the regulation of the global climate”, she outlined.
Irish NGOs
According to the Environmental Pillar, the EU-Mercosur agreement which was finalised last week (December 6) will “invariably involve importing vast amounts of beef into the EU market”.
The group of NGOs believe this will “undermine the profitability of small family farms across Ireland”.
Farmer, Brian Meredith, who is also a member of the Environmental Pillar said: “We fear that these farms will be unable to compete with the commodities of scale, the lower standards and the lower cost of production of imported South American beef.
“The socio-economic consequences of this could be catastrophic given that the majority of Irish farmers are engaged in some form of cattle enterprise and the sector is already in a financially vulnerable position due to poor profitability”.
He said in particular extensive Irish suckler farmers help to support high nature value farming systems and their loss would also have a negative impact on Ireland’s biodiversity.
Transparency
The group of Irish NGOs is also highlighting that there is a “lack of transparency” around the deal.
Fintan Kelly, agriculture and land use policy and advocacy officer with the Environmental Pillar, said: “For more than 25 years the negotiations that culminated in this agreement have been going on behind closed doors without public participation or transparency.
“To date there has been a lack of openness in relation to the decision-making process and engagement with our elected representatives in the European Parliament and with national governments.
“The lack of transparency and democratic accountability seriously undermines our trust in this trade deal”.