The world has lost one third of its forest, with half of that loss occurring in the last century, the World Resources Institute reports. Two new laws being debated in the European Union and U.S. aim to put an end to this by banning goods linked to deforestation from entering their borders.

The European Commission finds that deforestation is still accelerating because of consumer demand for cheap beef, soy, chocolate, and other agricultural goods. Data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that almost 90 percent of deforestation is caused by agriculture.

Deforestation is directly linked to 10 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions, as stated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Furthermore, deforestation threatens at least 28,000 species, displaces communities around the world, and may disrupt the livelihoods of 1.25 billion people according to the WWF.

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) aims to tackle deforestation by requiring companies to prove that their products are produced legally and on land that was not deforested after 2020. Pascal Canfin, Chair of the European Parliament’s Environment committee explains that for the first time companies will actually need “satellite images and GPS coordinates to show exactly where the commodity comes from.”

The law will go into force in early 2023 and companies will have either 18 or 24 months, depending on size, from that date to comply. Environmental groups like the Nature Conservancy and WWF are calling the law “groundbreaking” and the “first of its kind”.

Lawmakers in the United States are hopeful that the EU Deforestation Law gives new impetus to similar legislation, known as the FOREST Act (Fostering Overseas Rule of law and Environmentally Sound Trade) in the U.S.. “The European legislation is an important step forward,” Congressmember Earl Blumenauer tells Food Tank. “It will highlight the need for American action to fill these gaps.”

Blumenauer is the sponsor of the FOREST Act, which is now under review by the Senate Committee on Finance.

International environmental regulation “can be modestly controversial,” says Blumenauer to Food Tank. “But what [the FOREST Act] does is it levels the playing field. It means that the people in the United States who play by the rules are strengthened, and it is harder for the cheaters to get an unfair advantage.”

Read the full article about deforestation by Ian Muir Smith at Food Tank.