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Innovation Forum

Innovation Forum

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Since: 29.09.2014
Sustainability Insight for Emerging Markets

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Innovation Forum: Deforestation: five years of corporate progress?

18.10.2019 Share

 

It has been five years since the first Innovation Forum conference on deforestation. And the conversations and commitments to eliminating deforestation and protecting important ecosystems have certainly moved on since 2014. 

But just how much progress has been made in the last few years? It’s a tricky question. There are many contributing factors, the baseline is inconsistent between the many actors involved, and the way positive progress is monitored and reported remains disjointed and piecemeal.

Despite a growing understanding of the underlying risks and climate change impacts, the protection of forests and ecosystems remains a struggle. Land speculation, driven by a promise of increased land prices combined with low cost of land, low cost of clearance and low risk of being caught is a huge problem. 

According to Global Forest Watch, 18m hectares of tree cover were lost in the tropics alone in 2018, including 3.1m hectares of primary forest. The Consumer Goods Forum says that at least 40% of this forest loss is the direct result of expanding production of agriculture to produce commodities such as soy, cattle, palm oil, rubber and cocoa. 

Despite this backdrop, an unprecedented level of awareness and public commitment to eliminating deforestation from supply chains does appear to be helping to turn the tide. “[There is] an increasing acceptance – even normalisation – of the need for action, and that inaction is increasingly seen as unacceptable,” says Toby Gardner, a senior research fellow at Stockholm Environment Institute.