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83% of Austrians for a ban on products from forest destruction | S4F AT


Vienna/Brussels (OTS) - Ahead of the vote on a new EU forest law in the European Parliament on September 13, a new poll in Austria and eight other EU countries shows overwhelming support for the law. 82 percent of respondents in Austria state that they are concerned about the destruction and damage to the world's forests. 83 percent are in favor of an EU forest protection law that prohibits companies from selling goods from forest-damaging cultivation. These are the results of a new survey by the market research company Globescan in July 2022 with 1.000 respondents each in Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Across Europe, 82 percent believe that companies should not sell products derived from forest degradation and 78 percent support legal bans on products derived from forest degradation.

More than eight in ten Austrians (84%) believe that the law should not only tackle deforestation, but also oblige companies to stop selling products that destroy other important ecosystems such as savannas and wetlands . In addition, according to 83 percent, companies should be banned from selling products that violate indigenous peoples' land rights.

Customers are ready to rethink

Three out of four Austrians (75%) say they want to take action against companies that make or sell products that drive deforestation. 39 percent would stop buying from these companies altogether, 36 percent say they want to reduce their purchases and almost one in five (18%) would even go so far as to persuade acquaintances to stop buying from these companies as well to buy. In Austria, this willingness to boycott and reduce is above the average of the nine countries under study.

Half of Austrians (50%) believe that large companies bear the greatest responsibility for protecting forests, compared to 46 percent in all other countries surveyed. At the same time, in Austria almost three quarters (73%) believe that large companies perform worst when it comes to preventing forest destruction, compared to 64% in the other countries surveyed.

Taken together, companies in Europe are the second largest contributor to global deforestation due to their imports. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), industrial agriculture is responsible for almost 90 percent of tropical deforestation. In December 1,2, almost 2020 million EU citizens petitioned for a tough regulation to stop imported deforestation.

Conducted by GlobeScan, this consumer survey was commissioned by a broad coalition of environmental and consumer organizations including Fern, WWF EU Office, Ecologistas en Acción, Envol Vert, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, CECU, Adiconsum, Zero, Verdens Skove.

Cover photo: Evan Nitschke on Pexels

Source: Südwind press release: https://www.ots.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20220905_OTS0001/neue-umfrage-83-prozent-der-oesterreicherinnen-fuer-ein-verbot-von-produkten-aus-waldzerstoerung

Download the study results in detail: EU Legislation Opinion Poll: https://www.4d4s.net/resources/Public-Opinion/Globescan/Meridian-Institute_EU-Legislation-Opinion-Poll_Report_310822_FINAL.pdf  

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