Our focus
Our work supports agricultural commodity production and sourcing that can deliver positive social and environmental outcomes. This means working with producers and supply chains to have positive impacts for the people and places where commodities are produced.
At its core, Proforest is a mission-driven organisation. We believe that agricultural commodity production can and should work towards four environmental and four social outcomes. These provide the compass for all our work.
We also believe it’s important that people in the regions where commodities are produced are empowered and responsible for driving sustainable practices. That’s why we have invested in developing our teams in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, as well as internationally.
Our regional teams bring a depth of local knowledge, while our wider team provides breadth of experience. As a global network it means we provide expertise at all stages of the supply chain for many commodities, including palm oil, soy, beef, sugar and rubber.
2024
Opened 2 new offices in Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon.
Equipped sugar mills with the Human Rights Spotlight, a toolkit to identify and address potential human rights risks within their supply chains.
2023
Published our generic Verfied Deforestation and Conversion Free (V-DCF) methodology to support alignment, transparency and consistency in claims, while recognising the need to adapt to different realities.
2022
Travel returns with Proforest learning journeys on beef, soy, sugar and palm and global gatherings on Landscapes and Responsible Sourcing. Read more stories on Exposure.
2021
Launch of Proforest Academy, our online learning platform with free introductory courses, thematic deep-dives and certified training across our work in responsible sourcing and production.
2020
The Soy Tookit, the first of our Responsible Toolkits, is launched, a practical resource to support companies in the responsible sourcing of soy.
Proforest celebrates 20 years with a look back over the last two decades progress and the people who made it.
2019
Proforest starts working with the newly established Palm Oil Collaboration Group, providing technical coordination and support to its working groups.
2018
Proforest publishes Supporting companies to work at a landscape scale, part of a series on production landscapes, kicking off an increasing area of our work to address systemic issues at scale.
2017
Proforest's gender mainstreaming strategy is shared internally and externally as a foundation of our work in social and environmental issues, cutting across responsible sourcing and production, collaboration, MSI and landscape initiatives, and capacity building and training.
2016
The Marrakesh Declaration for the Sustainable Development of Palm Oil is signed at CoP22, founding principles for the Africa Palm Oil Initiative, part of the Tropical Forest Alliance, which brings together governments from ten countries in West and Central Africa with the private sector, traditional leaders, local communities and indigenous peoples.
2015
Proforest strengthens its presence in Latin America with our office in Cali, Colombia.
A Practical Guide to Responsible Sourcing is published, one of many Proforest publications written to share knowledge and guidance with the industry.
2014
Proforest and the EU REDD Facility publish briefings on FLEGT & REDD+ as innovative approaches to forest governance.
2013
Proforest serves as the global secretariat for the Smallholder Acceleration and REDD+ Programme (SHARP) partnership from 2013 to 2019, supporting smallholders globally to produce commodity crops sustainably.
2012
Proforest's office in Ghana opens as we set up The Africa Practitioners Network to build the capacity of African organisations and individuals to implement sustainable practices.
2011
Proforest Brazil is established, building on work with the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) and the Brazilian Roundtable on Sustainable Livestock (GTPS).
2010
Proforest Initiative is formed to enable long-term grant-funded programmes alongside consultancy services, a combination that is fundamental to the way we work and the value we can bring to all parties.
2009
Guidance on effective ways to work with Chinese officials and suppliers on issues related to illegal logging and responsible sourcing is released.
2008
With the oil palm sector's increasing dominance in Southeast Asia, Proforest strengthens its presence in the region with a new office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2007
Facilitated the original process of developing the RSPO Principles & Criteria (P&C) and subsequent revision processes.
2006
The High Conservation Values Network (HCVN) emerges from our multi-stakeholder work, incubated within Proforest until 2015.
2005
Proforest is involved in the process to establish the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), including the first iteration of its Principles and Criteria.
2004
Proforest is asked to manage the Central Point of Expertise (CPET) on Timber for the UK Government for the next eight years.
2003
Supporting the newly established FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) we work with UK government, the EU and producer countries.
Edition one of the High Conservation Value Toolkit is released.
2002
Our Annual Training Programme launches a long-term commitment to training and capacity building globally.
