Addressing soy and beef driven deforestation in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay

Due to growing demand, the Amazon, Cerrado and Chaco regions have experienced significant beef and soy expansion – causing over two thirds of their total deforestation. Moreover, these two commodities are interrelated in many complex ways, and, whilst some companies are already making deforestation-free commitments, there is often a lack of understanding on how to fulfil them without cross-sector action. Therefore, clarity and alignment around sourcing policies as well as appropriate guidance, tools and capacity to implement them will be critical in bringing commitments to fruition and unlocking the potential for private sector to become a positive driver and discourage deforestation for beef and soy production.

The Collaboration for Forests and Agriculture (CFA) is a joint effort of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF), and strategic partners. The Collaboration was launched in 2016 as part of GBMF’s Forests and Agricultural Markets initiative, which seeks to make deforestation-free beef and soy the global standard for these commodities.

Within CFA’s scope of activities, Proforest designed the co-creation process and the first versions for discussion of a protocol to implement zero deforestation commitments in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay on the Cerrado, Amazon and Gran Chaco biomes. The work also involved aligning the sourcing policies of international and national companies and developing capacity within companies to implement commitments. Below are just some of the highlights achieved during 2017 in each of the CFA regions: 

• In Brazil, Proforest facilitated the process of incorporating companies’ feedback to produce a draft protocol that defines important terminology and gives an implementation strategy to companies committing to deforestation-free commitments. Last year, we also compiled the lessons learned from establishing the Brazilian Roundtable on Sustainable Livestock (in Portuguese, Grupo de Trabalho da Pecuária Sustentável - GTPS). The results were shared at the GTPS’s 10-year anniversary event and will also be part of a publication to be launched this year.
• In Argentina, Proforest led the discussion on identifying possible scenarios and stakeholders for engagement. The initial version of the protocol for deforestation-free commodities will be shared with the main actors for feedback in 2018. In August, our team was part of a workshop in Argentina that discussed  ways of unlocking the private sector potential of sustainable beef and soy production.
• And, finally, in Paraguay, Proforest, WWF-Paraguay, and Guyra facilitated a workshop with local stakeholders to define deforestation scenarios for sustainable beef production in December. Meanwhile, stakeholder mapping was being updated with the assistance of a consultant hired by Proforest. This will inform the discussions on deforestation-free definitions.
• In all three countries our team also made sure that what came out of the CFA was incorporated to the Accountability Framework (AFi), ensuring that regional approaches align with global ones under AFi creating consistency for producers, commodity-buying companies, governments, and other implementation partners.

More information on CFA please click here.