Scientists and academics are pushing for rapid transformational change to address large-scale deforestation and degradation which is directly contributing to the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Within Malaysian Borneo, the state of Sabah has been an early mover and was one of the first states in the world to adopt the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s (RSPO) jurisdictional approach; a large-scale policy shift that could be seen as transformational.

This paper, using case study analysis and interviews with key stakeholders, analyses the policy changes occurring within the forest and palm oil sectors of Sabah. It examines what led the state to deviating from business-as-usual activities, as well as which policies helped to support this change in policy direction.

The paper highlights that although adopting the RSPO jurisdictional approach was a great step forward in addressing the issues of deforestation, other steps must be taken to ensure effective implementation on the ground. This includes the development of a more sustainable and equitable national economy, and greater involvement from consumer countries to play a role in reducing pressures on forests by providing incentives to a state that manages its natural resources sustainably.

The Terpercaya platform is an instrument for monitoring the performance of palm oil producing districts in Indonesia according to environmental, social, economic, and governance principles. It incentivises districts to improve performance as a means of attracting investment from buyers seeking sustainably produced commodities. This briefing explains how consumer goods companies and other supply chain actors can utilise the Terpercaya system to source commodities from sustainable and deforestation-free districts.

The briefing lays out how the system can help demonstrate that the commodities sourced are both legal and deforestation free. The study then highlights potential complementary measures, such as district wide blacklists and whitelists, to simplify operators’ due diligence processes and maintain market access for sustainable and deforestation-free producers located in lower-performing jurisdictions.

As there is now a great demand, from consumers and governments, for goods companies and supply chain actors to source products sustainably, deforestation free jurisdictional approaches offer a large-scale solution. The findings from this briefing can be used by other commodity producing countries that are interested in using jurisdictional approaches as a method of sustainable production.

Indonesia’s Terpercaya platform is an inclusive, nationwide system used to track sustainable palm oil, and define district sustainability at scale across the country. The system has evolved from an EU-funded study to monitor jurisdictional sustainability in Indonesian commodity production, launched in April 2018, led by the European Forest Institute (EFI) and Inovasi Bumi (INOBU)

Palm oil traceability in Indonesia, is hampered by the complexity of the supply chain which includes a large mix of independent smallholders and informal traders. To avoid exclusion of these actors from markets requiring assurance of legal, sustainable and deforestation-free palm oil, extensive data collection is required which is unavailable. However, company representatives are reluctant to share this data and supplier information due to commercial concerns.

This brief, brief 10, presents the results of a legal review and interviews which were carried out as part of the Terpercaya initiative with four palm oil producers (mills and refineries) and five downstream companies, including agribusiness, palm oil manufacturers and consumer goods companies. It identifies traceability data to be collected, retained and disclosed to accelerate progress in palm oil traceability in Indonesia. Briefing 10 presents the issues identified through the interviews that may hamper the development of a national traceability platform, but explains how jurisdictional approaches can improve this traceability.

Jurisdictional Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (JREDD+) programmes have emerged, and increased in popularity, over the last decade as a means of resolving some issues associated with standard REDD+ initiatives. The rise in profile of JREDD+ programmes across the climate change sector has meant there has been an increase in scrutiny directed towards the concept; both positive and negative. This can make it confusing for organisations and advocates looking to support JREDD+ initiatives in their journey towards net-zero or other climate/environmental ambitions.

This World Economic Forum report distils research conducted into JREDD+ programmes and shows how the concept’s reputation has evolved over time. Using this research, the report makes a number of recommendations for those working within the REDD+/JREDD+ sphere on how to communicate and educate effectively when confronted with potential negative narratives. Through an analysis of positive JREDD+ communications, the report also demonstrates how supporting these programmes can positively improve supporter’s reputations.

The report also warns that an enhanced level of media attention and positive/negative scrutiny can cause inaction. With the impacts of the climate crisis accelerating, there is less and less time for inaction and JREDD+ initiatives can be a key tool for people to take action in the global effort to combat the climate crisis.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) have the potential to address a myriad of challenges that Brazil faces, such as biodiversity loss and declining water quality, as well as contributing to the country’s net zero commitments. As such, NbS play a valuable part in the Brazilian policy landscape.

This report published by UK PACT and CDP presents the NbS related subnational policies and programmes that have been implemented in Brazil that are helpful for policy makers looking to implement similar approaches in their jurisdictions. The report includes an example of Mato Grosso’s ‘Protect, Conserve and Include’ initiative which is one of the most advanced examples of the jurisdictional approach in the world.

There are also a number of key takeaways in the report, drawn from barriers and opportunities in the Brazilian landscape, that can be used to ensure the success of future NbS projects and jurisdictional level projects.

This report summarises the science on the biophysical effects of deforestation on climate stability and explores the policy implications of the resulting impacts at three scales: global climate policy, regional cooperation on precipitation management, and national policies related to agriculture and public health. 

Forests have significant and positive effects on our planet, not only in terms of carbon sequestration, but through a variety of other processes. These include biophysical processes that affect transfers of energy and moisture in the atmosphere, the contribution to food security, the protection of human health as well as improving water security. Accounting for all of these processes significantly affects estimates of the impacts of deforestation, rendering the global cooling effect of avoiding tropical deforestation as much as 50% greater.

The report also provides next steps to address these impacts, and urges policymakers and other actors working in the sector to recognise and address the full range of forests’ services. Potential areas of investment from public and private financiers are highlighted, that would help to address the widespread implications of forest cover change. As well as providing an overview of jurisdictional approaches to deforestation-free supply chains with an example from Mato Grosso, Brazil.

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol has published its draft Land Sector and Removals Guidance for pilot testing and review. The guidance will explain how companies should account for and report GHG emissions and removals from land management, land use change and related activities in GHG inventories.

Analysis from TFA, Proforest, Conservation International, Emergent, EDF, IDH and ISEAL found that the draft guidance only allowed companies to account for actions and GHG emission reductions at the farm level. As such, it would not incentivize company to take action beyond supply chain at landscape and jurisdictional scale, which is essential to stop deforestation and natural conversion and keep temperature increase below 1.5°C.

This document provides guidance, for forestry, land and agricultural sector companies and wider stakeholders interested in promoting landscape and jurisdictional approaches, to respond to the public consultation of the Draft GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals guidance, part 1, open for public consultation until 30 November 2022, with the deadline for those piloting the draft guidance on 15 January 2023.

Landscape and jurisdictional approaches have seen an increase in their adoption in recent years. With this increase in popularity, comprehensive social, economic and environmental assessments and therefore indicators are required urgently to ensure the effectiveness, transparency and credibility of these approaches.

In terms of landscape assessments socio-economic dimensions have played less of a key role in these processes when compared to environmental and economic dimensions. In response to this, this tool has been developed to provide practical guidance for those looking to assess the socio-economic status of a landscape to monitor progress and facilitate action for development – the Landscape Monitoring Framework of the socio-economic dimension tool (LMS).

The LMS is made up of two key documents; the LMS library of indicators and the LMS guidance document. The library of indicators provides a set of widely used and accepted socio-economic indicators that are linked to the SDGs. The guidance document then provides a step by step approach to assess and monitor landscape interventions using the indicators.

The LMS is a useful tool for those who are already, or looking to, work in landscape-scale initiatives. You can read more about the LMS and its development here.

Forests – and especially tropical forests – are one of the key components in addressing the dual crises we face of biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. Without the huge amount of carbon sequestration they provide, the planet would be unable to support life. In addition to this, 1.6 billion people depend on tropical forests for food, water, wood and livelihoods. They are essential to sustaining our life on earth. But increasingly, forests have been under threat from deforestation, threatening our collective future.

The World Economic Forum’s white paper on scaling up forest conservation to reach net zero, explains in more depth the importance of tropical forests, the threats they are facing and the urgent need for forest conservation programmes. Central to the paper is the role that the jurisdictional approach and jurisdictional REDD+ can play in quickly scaling up forest conservation. For those interested in jurisdictional approaches and REDD+ the paper points to helpful organisations, resources and recent developments such as the LEAF Coalition – the coalition bringing together the private sector and governments to provide finance for  tropical and subtropical forest conservation that has has mobilized $1 billion USD.

Indigenous peoples are also highly impacted by deforestation and degradation, and the paper not only outlines how jurisdictional REDD+ can benefit these communities, but it explains through case studies in Guyana and Costa Rica how they can play more active roles in the planning stages of such initiatives.

In recent years, more and more companies have begun to establish climate and nature commitments so they can play their part in ensuring the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree goal is met. This increase means that the market has become increasingly saturated, making it difficult for companies to navigate the landscape if they are looking for the ways in which they can meet their commitments.

Emergent, a non-profit that act as intermediaries between tropical forest countries and the private sector who coordinate the LEAF Coalition, have published a white paper that will help companies navigate this often confusing landscape. The white paper helps to define commonly used terms in commitments such as ‘science-based targets’, ‘carbon neutral’, ‘nature positive’ and ‘deforestation free’ to name a few examples. The role of tropical forest protection is also raised as a key method to support corporate and climate nature strategies through the use of Jurisdictional reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (JREDD+).

JREDD+ is a comprehensive and inclusive approach to forest conservation scaled-up to cover whole jurisdictions. Emergent breakdown the benefits of the JREDD+ approach, and frame how the use of this method can support a companies’ commitment to carbon neutrality, net zero and climate positivity as well for deforestation free and nature positive commitments.