Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Deforestation is a global issue that has environmental and social consequences both on a global and local scale. To halt European contributions to global deforestation the EU has adopted the EU deforestation regulation (EUDR). The regulation was officially adopted in 2023 but has yet to be implemented at the time of writing. It is currently set to be implemented at the end of 2026.

The aim of this qualitative interview study is to explore the perceptions of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) among Swedish actors trading in tropical timbers, and how it may impact them. In total six semi structured interviews were conducted via video calls and phone calls; Two with timber importers, three with timber traders and one with a representative from The Swedish Forest Agency.

The results indicate that the interview respondents primarily consider the EUDR to be an administrative regulation that increases the administrative burden for the companies affected by the regulation. Despite this additional administrative burden the respondents are cautiously optimistic about potential sustainability benefits that the regulation can lead to, such as providing a positive influence for other sustainability efforts and legislation in the global community. By using the concepts of ‘audit culture’ and ‘sustainability’ as analytical lenses, this thesis shows that the EUDR provides a way for the EU to expand its spere of influence into a global arena of natural resource governance which has consequences for relationships and distribution of power across all scales, from between trading companies all the way up to relation between nations, which risks disadvantaging groups that are already marginalized.