Proforest takes part in international webinar on public-private collaboration for the zero deforestation agenda

On 3 July, Proforest participated in the webinar "1+1=3: Approaches and Benefits of Public-Private Collaboration", part of the Zero Deforestation Learning Series, organised by the Team Europe Initiative on Deforestation-Free Value Chains. The initiative brings together the European Union, its Member States and development partners to support producer countries in building deforestation-free value chains.

Cecília Korber Gonçalves, Deputy Director of Projects and Programmes at Proforest, represented the Brazil Climate, Forests and Agriculture Coalition (Coalizão Brasil Clima, Florestas e Agricultura) during the event, presenting the Coalition’s experience as a case study on collaboration between governments, businesses and civil society. The webinar also featured representatives from the European Forest Institute (EFI), which coordinates the EUDR Community of Practice—a platform dedicated to knowledge exchange and practical cooperation to support implementation of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The forum brings together producers, companies and public authorities to facilitate compliance with the new requirements.

During her presentation, Cecília introduced the Brazil Coalition as a multi-stakeholder movement bringing together more than 450 organisations from agribusiness, the financial sector, civil society and academia. Since its establishment in 2015, the Coalition has developed over 150 technical position papers and currently operates through 12 active Task Forces. She highlighted the work of the Traceability and Transparency Task Force, established in 2020 and now focused on the beef and soy supply chains, presenting recent outputs such as proposals for a national traceability system for soy and beef, and the mapping of requirements for the AgroBrasil+Sustainable Platform. A key message of the presentation was that traceability and transparency should be viewed as strategic drivers of Brazil’s international competitiveness, rather than simply responses to regulatory requirements such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

One of the key lessons shared by Cecília was that lasting solutions depend on collaborative approaches involving all stakeholders across agricultural supply chains.

Proforest co-leads the Traceability and Transparency Task Force of the Brazil Coalition alongside ABIEC, providing technical expertise to translate multi-stakeholder consensus into concrete public policy proposals. Its participation in the Zero Deforestation Learning Series reinforces the organisation’s role as a bridge between the private sector, government and civil society in advancing more transparent, resilient and deforestation-free supply chains in Brazil.