Chapter 9 Partners in action

TFA Perspectives: Partners Spotlight

In this chapter of Perspectives, we focus on
a few TFA partner organizations who are working
to reduce commodity-driven deforestation – and other organisations working on related issues. These include Proforest, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), and The Climate Pledge.

_{Aerial footage of palm oil and the forest in Sentabai Village, West Kalimantan. © Nanang Sujana/CIFOR ►}

Proforest

Proforest aims to help people produce and source agricultural and forest commodities responsibly by supporting companies throughout supply chains to have positive outcomes for people, nature, and climate in the places where commodities are produced.
Their support to organisations is in three ways: through responsible production and sourcing within supply chains, through landscape initiatives outside supply chains and through industry collaborations and engagements.

_{▲ Oil Palm work Harvester. © Icaro Cooke Vieira/CIFOR}

To learn more about their work and initiatives
please visit www.proforest.net

Some of their recent work and publications are mentioned below:

Generic Verified Deforestation and Conversion Free Methodology (V-DCF). This generic high-level framework can provide the basis for detailed methodologies for specific commodities and companies allowing for alignment, transparency and consistency, while also recognising the need to adapt to different realities.
My Voice programme. Proforest partners with Social Accountability International and others to reduce the risk of forced and child labour in the Malaysian palm oil and garment industries.
Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative new publication. A commemorative publication following the signing at COP27 of a single set of principles for the responsible production of agricultural commodities in Africa, tracing progress and showing the evolution from TFA’s first signature initiative, the Africa Palm Oil Initiative.
EU regulation on deforestation-free products. Proforest has developed an operational guidance document for cocoa producers and importers to support the implementation of the EU regulation on deforestation-free products.

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)

RSPO is a global not-for-profit organization with voluntary members focused on transforming the palm oil industry to make it sustainable. By bringing together stakeholders from across the palm oil supply chain, RSPO develops and implements global standards for sustainable palm oil. With thousands of members worldwide, RSPO operates through consensus to ensure all stakeholders have a voice and share responsibility in protecting their standards.

To learn more about their work and initiatives please visit RSPO.org

Here are some of the latest work and publications from RSPO:

The RSPO Impact Report is a bi-annual publication narrating the impacts generated by RSPO and its members through certification and other RSPO systems and procedures.
You can read the report here.
RSPO has commissioned a gap analysis between the latest available version of the RSPO Principles and Criteria (P&C) vis-à-vis the requirements of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
You can read the report here.
RSPO also launched a new ‘Shared Responsibility Scorecard’. This will publicly display RSPO Members’ overall Shared Responsibility (SR) performance based on their reported commitments. You can find more about the scorecard here.

The Climate Pledge

The Climate Pledge is a commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040 — a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement’s goal of 2050. In 2019, Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge with Global Optimism. The Climate Pledge is joined by a cross-sector community of companies and organizations working together to address the climate crisis and solve the challenge of decarbonizing our economy.
Here's an episode of their ‘Future Forward Documentary Series’ – a series that showcases corporate innovation and climate action. The episode features the work of Amazon, The Nature Conservancy, ICRAF and family farmers presents and is called
‘The Future of Forests’.

Reforestation that is aligned to the production of food through agroforestry can mimic the functions of the forest and improve lives.

If your organisation is working towards promoting responsible production and sourcing of agricultural and forest commodities, and you’d like to feature in our upcoming partners spotlight space, please drop us a line at tfa@weforum.org.