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Tag: deforestation

“New legal initiatives towards deforestation-free supply chains will definitely be a game changer”

“New legal initiatives towards deforestation-free supply chains will definitely be a game changer”

Published September 21, 2022 by Gerhard Langenberger

Interview by Gesche Schifferdecker & Rosa Castañeda

Dr. Gerhard Langenberger is an expert on sustainable land use policy working at giz, the German Corporation for International Cooperation. Before joining giz, Gerhard coordinated two large international joint research projects dealing with natural rubber for the University of Hohenheim. We talked about his field of expertise – natural rubber – and learned why discussions on deforestation didn’t play a dominant role in the rubber sector in the past. Furthermore, we wanted to find out about the challenges and opportunities for smallholder farmers in Asian countries as well as for international forest governance – and about the local and the international environment influence each other. We also explored responsibilities for companies and potential incentives for manufacturers to use materials from fair trade and sustainable sources. Finally, we learned what “deforestation-free” actually means – and how we as consumers can influence the market to reduce land degradation and support sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation.

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New policy brief: How agricultural commodity trader responses can influence the effectiveness of the new EU deforestation proposal  

New policy brief: How agricultural commodity trader responses can influence the effectiveness of the new EU deforestation proposal  

Published September 2, 2022 by Mathias Cramm

Have you ever thought about how the consumption of some of our favourite products can be linked to deforestation? Or how political decisions and policies can influence such linkages? The EU consumes significant amounts of products made from agricultural commodities, such as cocoa, palm oil, and soy, and the related agricultural expansion of these commodities causes vast forest loss in countries of production in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Various trading companies operate supply chains across the globe and move the products to Europe for our consumption, making them important actors in controlling forest loss linked to agricultural products. In the coming years, new EU regulations will set increased obligations for traders in order to reduce EU market-driven forest loss. However, it is not sure how traders will react to the new regulations and how their decisions could influence the impact of the EU regulation to limit EU market-driven deforestation. 

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Exploring the world of investigative journalism: Some takeaways from the panel session at the International Forest Policy Meeting (#IFPM4) 

Exploring the world of investigative journalism: Some takeaways from the panel session at the International Forest Policy Meeting (#IFPM4) 

Published May 17, 2022 by Rina Tsubaki

From wildfires to deforestation in the tropics, journalism brings various forest-related issues to the public attention. Yet, one of the main concerns from the scientific communities is the issue of ‘speed over accuracy’, where many news journalists fail to report complex topics without providing contextual background. Particularly in the digital age, when the speed of news is faster than ever before, there is even more pressure on today’s news industry to report forest-related issues in a timely and accurate manner.  

The good news is that there is a wide variety of journalism practices that take serious consideration of the process for inquiry. In particular, investigative journalists take a unique approach to exploring the issues in depth before jumping to a quick conclusion. Many investigative journalists spend years following a single issue by working closely with scientific experts and mastering the skills to wrangle complex (and often unstructured) data to identify the links that no one has ever addressed in the news. 

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Cracking complexity: How we helped the media explore the link between finance, supply chain and deforestation 

Cracking complexity: How we helped the media explore the link between finance, supply chain and deforestation 

Published February 28, 2022 by Rina Tsubaki

For almost five years, EFI has been actively engaging with media from all around the world to help them explore complex issues related to European and global forests. Under the Lookout Station, a science-media capacity-building initiative, we’ve trained more than 320 editors and journalists through 12 workshops and masterclasses organised in-person and online. Our focus has always been on building a bridge between science and media by offering free training and open platforms to engage with experts. We’ve taken this approach because we believe in making long-term impacts at the individual and an editorial level instead of merely generating immediate media reporting.  

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Global Forest Finance Pledge at the COP26: new ammunition in the fight against deforestation or just more of the same?

Global Forest Finance Pledge at the COP26: new ammunition in the fight against deforestation or just more of the same?

Published November 8, 2021 by Filip Aggestam

Under the umbrella of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and the ongoing 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, 124 countries have just signed a Declaration on Forests and Land Use,[1] (from now on referred to as the Glasgow Declaration) as of 2 November 2021. The declaration sets out to end and reverse deforestation by 2030 and facilitate a sustainable land-use transition. Substantial progress has also been made with regards to the mobilisation of finances for forests. For instance, as part of issuing a Global Forest Finance Pledge,[2] the EU, Canada, United Kingdom, Norway, South Korea, and the United States of America have announced that they will provide 12 billion USD of public climate finance between 2021-2025. This financial pledge will aim to support action on restoring degraded land, tackling wildfires, and advancing the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. It can also be noted that the national governments of 28 countries have committed to removing deforestation from the global trade of food and other agricultural products such as palm oil, soya and cocoa. These are industries that, in part, drive global deforestation (e.g., forest loss generated by the demand for agricultural land). In connection with the Glasgow Declaration, major financial companies have likewise made additional commitments to end investments in activities linked to deforestation.

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“The informal sector can be a driver for degradation and deforestation or it can cause or result in sustainability”

Published May 29, 2020 by Lyla O' Brien

An Interview with Robert Nasi, Director General, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

Forests are among our planet’s most important human life-supporting ecosystems, and we have many expectations with regards to the ecosystem services they provide. But: How do major global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss affect forests globally, and what can forest governance and management do? How can we deal with rising and changing demands for forest products and ecosystem services due to global population and economic growth, and urbanization?   

In order to discuss these questions, the conference “Governing and managing forests for multiple ecosystem services” brought together policymakers, practitioners and academic researchers from different fields on 26-28 February in Bonn. During this event, EFI in collaboration with the documentary filmmaker Patrick Augenstein, interviewed Robert Nasi, Director General, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

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“REDDy for more?” Join EFI’s side event for COP23 and explore the future of global forest governance

“REDDy for more?” Join EFI’s side event for COP23 and explore the future of global forest governance

Published November 3, 2017 by Gesche Schifferdecker

Join our panel-audience discussion on the possible future of global forest governance focusing on the tropics on Saturday the 11th of November 2017, 13.00 – 15.00 in the new premises of EFI Bonn at Platz der Vereinten Nationen 7 in Bonn. Strong current trends and likely future scenarios, which may build on but also go beyond REDD+ initiatives will be key themes.
The climate deliberations of previous years have clearly shown that forests are a crucial aspect of global approaches to climate change policy, esp. in the tropics. Persistent deforestation and forest degradation cause a huge amount of CO2 emissions, while growing forest stock, sustainable forest management as well as the use of wood-based products and materials are capable of mitigating emissions from multiple sources.

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