Introduction

There are now several systems which are able to provide regular deforestation alerts. Where these alerts occur inside a concession with known supply links, it is possible for supply chain companies to use existing commercial relationships to take action to tackle deforestation by engaging with the concession-holder or group.

However, where the alerts occur outside concessions it is much more difficult for companies to respond. Many different actors can be involved, ranging from medium-sized plantations, communities or smallholders clearing land, to illegal encroachment and land speculation. Supply chain companies do not have commercial relationships with these actors, nor the right to act on their own as law enforcers or land use planners. Therefore, there is a need for companies to work with other stakeholders including local governments, communities and civil society organisations to plan and implement longer term forest and livelihood positive actions that proactively, holistically and inclusively address deforestation outside concessions. The PPBC working group has been formed with the aim to scale up action for production and forest protection beyond concessions through proactive interventions, action protocols and targeted monitoring.

Public Summary

Who is involved?

The full working group is referred to as the “Action Group” and there are two smaller “Technical” and “Outreach” subgroups to take the work forward. The Action Group is a group of 12 companies and several technical support organisations implementing forest conservation and monitoring activities. The Technical Group is a subgroup of the technical organisations focused on objective 1 below. The Outreach Group will support engagement with key stakeholders needed to implement the action and monitoring protocols.

Co-convened by Cargill, Nestle and PepsiCo.

Coordinated by Proforest.

Objectives

Scale up forest and livelihood positive action through proactive interventions and targeted monitoring including:

1. Prioritising where action is needed: focus on Indonesia and Malaysia initially, geospatial analysis.

2. Agreeing and implementing Action and Monitoring Protocols for priority areas identified in step 1.

Additional information about the group

The group work has been divided into three action phases.

Phase 1: Objective setting and prioritisation

In this first phase, the main goal was to agree on the specific objectives and ambition of the group as well as to start developing a framework for engagement and action. To do so, a technical prioritisation was conducted for Indonesia and Malaysia of landscapes with high remaining forest cover and high deforestation outside concessions.

Phase 2: Action planning and engagement

The second phase is focusing on planning best ways for engagement and action based on the results of the prioritisation. A protocol for company action and for monitoring, and targeted engagement strategies for relevant local actors and stakeholders in the third-party supply base, is in process of being developed. A priority is to support and align with existing on the ground initiatives, especially local government activities and priorities.

Phase 3: Taking action and monitoring

Use the knowledge and tools developed in the first two phases to implement action and monitoring protocols on the ground.

Landscape Deforestation Risk Mitigation Criteria:

Landscape initiatives are a key type of collective action to support independent smallholders and tackle deforestation. Many landscape initiatives are already established and supporting ISH, but are not yet formally recognised as contributing to delivering on DCF in volume-based tools such as the IRF​.

As part of the PPBC objective to drive collective action in priority areas, the PPBC group developed a set of 6 deforestation risk mitigation criteria for landscape initiatives to demonstrate DCF claims for palm independent smallholders​. The criteria aims to capture progress on activities that should be in place in a landscape level initiative and have evidence of active mitigation of deforestation risk, as well as a demonstrated trend of reduced deforestation.

Please review the criteria here

Currently, the approach and criteria are undergoing an external feedback period, to understand the information that is readily available and shareable, barriers and concerns of the approach. Please use this survey to provide feedback on the Landscape D-risk mitigation criteria.

Further information

For further information or to provide input or comments go to our contact us page.