By FERN
We are concerned: at the moment, there is nothing that stops products linked to deforestation and human rights from entering the EU market. We need a new EU law to stop this.
A European Commission public consultation on this issue is expected in June and will run for 12 weeks. A number of NGOs have come together to use this opportunity to get broad support for a new law, showing the European Commission that citizens care. This consultation is open to all citizens around the globe, not just Europeans. Taking part in this public consultation is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a difference in deforestation and land-grabbing, with a huge impact on the rest of the world. We have to be quick in joining forces.
WWF has prepared a petition tool that – once users sign it – sends our pre-formulated answers straight to the Commission’s official consultation on the user’s behalf. The petition tool is easy to implement and the tool has been proven to be successful in the past. In a nutshell, we would like to discuss the following support from you for this 11-12 week period of the public consultation:
- Implementation of an iframe for this petition tool on your website
- A number of (ideally at least three) direct mailings focusing solely on this topic, to all supporters
- Regular social media posts on your channels (ideally at least 3/week or more)
- You can also support us in different ways, do get in touch
Regarding the timing, we expect the consultation to start in June, so we’re working towards a start on 30 June. This is subject to change in case the Commission is not ready to publish the consultation on that day.
Our more detailed response towards the public consultation can only be prepared once the public consultation is online, but it will orientate itself along the lines of our common NGO briefing.
Communications
We are currently developing the messaging and visuals including angles on food, health, trees, consumer rights, solidarity, iconic species, biodiversity hotspots, forest fires, climate and so on, so we will be able to share nice assets for your audience! (These will be shared 14 days before the launch of each comms package).
We will provide you with free, attractive social media material and we can combine our campaigning expertise. There will be great opportunities for (social) media engagement as well and this action will lead traffic to your website; you will get exclusive access to the database of email addresses for your newsletter.
More info?
We have prepared a Q&A about this phase of the campaign, its aims and how the petition tool works, which you can find here. You can register for your website’s iframe for the petition tool through this form or you can email us if you want to support in a different way.
Feel free to forward this email to colleagues and other NGO contacts in case they would be interested.
Join us and be part of a great new movement against deforestation!
Thank you in advance – #Together4Forests!