Unilever’s Reimagining Landscapes report outlines the progress and learning outcomes from five of their programmes that support landscapes across Southeast Asia. These programmes are located in landscapes where sustainable palm oil production takes place, that deliver benefits for all stakeholders involved.

Before demonstrating their achievements with their partners in the five selected landscapes, Unilever offers their perspective on why jurisdictional-level and landscape approaches are vital, as well as explaining their selection process used to identify landscapes to support.

The case studies in the report, that are located across Indonesia in Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau and Central Kalimantan as well as in Sabah State in Malaysia, detail key facts about each of the landscapes as well as stating the metrics on their achievements in collaboration with their partners. These metrics include numbers of independents smallholder farmers that have achieved certification, hectares of forest that have been protected or restored as well as the number of villages supported with initiatives such as land use mapping and alternative livelihood schemes.

The case studies also explain how Unilever worked with local governments, local communities and smallholders in multistakeholder forums, which can inspire other companies looking to make similar impacts in their landscapes.  

This report from The Consumer Goods Forum Forest Positive Coalition of Action (CGF FPCoA) shares the value for businesses looking to invest in landscapes and jurisdictional-level approaches. Five reasons are presented as to why companies investing and engaging in landscape and jurisdictional-level initiatives makes good business sense. These reasons highlighted include cost efficiency through sharing costs with others in the landscape, increased supply chain security, the ability to achieve multiple ESG commitments at once as well as the mitigation of risks that are often present in the production of agricultural commodities.  

These key benefits that form part of the business case are informed by interviews with coalition members and implementing organisations that are working at this level in their existing engagements. It also draws upon case studies in Siak, Indonesia, Mato Grosso, Brazil and Chiapas, Mexico to show how investing in landscapes is not only good for businesses, but has positive impacts for people, nature, and the climate. For more information on the CGF FPCoA, and their work in landscapes, you can access their 2022 Annual Report here.

The Paris Agreement, the legally binding international treaty on climate change, calls for action on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), conservation and the sustainable management of forests in developing countries. Developing countries that are achieving REDD+ results could be awarded results-based payments (RBPs). These can come from sources such as the Green Climate Fund’s RBPs Pilot Programme and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility’s Carbon Fund.

This report provides an overview of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) modalities for REDD+ reporting. Including measurement and verification procedures for those looking to access RBPs. It provides a breakdown of recent developments and tools specifically focused on jurisdictional REDD+ (JREDD+) such as the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions’ – The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard (ARTTREES) and Verra’s Jurisdictional and Nested REDD standard.

This report aims to inform countries and other stakeholders that have an interest in achieving financing from forests, under different national and subnational REDD+ reporting processes and schemes. Within the report, there are case studies describing how countries, such as Cambodia and Kenya, are using REDD+ reporting to improve their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Which are the targets countries set for mitigating their greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

The Wehea-Kelay Essential Ecosystem Area (EEA) is a 532,000-hectare region in East Kalimantan province in Indonesia. The EEA supports around 1,200 orangutans in mixed landscapes outside of protected conservation areas used by, among others, timber and palm oil companies and indigenous peoples.

The Wehea-Kelay EEA Forum is a multi-stakeholder coalition established in 2015, which has resulted in the development of a cooperative agreement to manage the landscape for biodiversity conservation. The agreement and the Forum are considered a model for other EEAs in Indonesia.

Steered by national and provincial government agencies, the Forum is facilitated by non-governmental organisation (NGO) Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN). The Forum provides the space for government agencies, indigenous Dayak community, NGOs, the private sector and others to work together toward conservation in the landscape.

The role of the private sector is crucial as the Wehea-Kelay landscape includes large palm oil and timber concessions. The study found that a key motivation for the companies to engage and align with the Forum was to maintain their sustainability certifications and to fulfil other sustainability requirements.

In Asunafo-Asutifi landscape in Ghana, different stakeholders have joined together to create a landscape programme to support forest protection and restoration, scale up sustainable commodity production and improve livelihoods for farmers. Collective action in the landscape is carried out under the framework of the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme, which provides the guidelines and processes for engaging stakeholders.

Eight diverse companies – Mondelēz International, Touton SA, Cargill, Ecom, Lindt, Mars, OFI (formerly Olam Food Ingredients) and Sucden – coordinated by the World Cocoa Foundation – have committed to supporting the Asunafo-Asutifi programme. Proforest facilitates the development of the initiative and has supported the design of the landscape management and investment plans in collaboration with government, civil society and other stakeholders.

The study shows that, in Ghana, and particularly in the Asunafo-Asutifi landscape, the increasing shift towards collective action at scale by companies has been facilitated by factors such as the right national and corporate policies and effective leadership and commitment. Other factors include effective communication and support systems and an effective and collaborative approach to planning.

The case study builds on another on the overall Asunafo-Asutifi programme by Proforest from December 2020; read it here. See also a webinar presenting the landscape initiative here.

The publication, sub-titled “Facts, analysis and actions to leverage impact” presents the state of palm oil in Europe, which has seen total imports of the commodity declining, and calls for companies and other stakeholders to take action and drive the growth of sustainable palm oil worldwide.

One of the key action areas proposed for palm oil end users, including retailers and manufacturers headquartered in Europe, is to join landscape initiatives to achieve sustainability at a jurisdictional or regional scale. Such action holds the potential for scale as different stakeholders, including producers and local governments, get together to craft joint strategies, adopt a multi-commodity approach, and would enable downstream companies in contributing to holistic impacts on the ground.

The Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is developing a mechanism for jurisdictional certification; its jurisdictional approach piloting framework is available here. IDH has been building SourceUp as a platform to connect landscape initiatives working on sustainability for various commodities with interested companies. For other examples of company action at landscape and jurisdictional scale, explore this guidance developed by WWF, Proforest, and the Tropical Forest Alliance here.

The report also recommends other key action areas to improve sustainability of palm oil supply namely improving traceability, committing and implementing to No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation, joining a palm oil initiative for sustainable sourcing, and getting certified.

The Annual Report of Indonesia’s Sustainable Districts Association Lingkar Temu Kabupaten Lestari (LTKL) highlighted progress made in the period of 2021/2022. These achievements include the development of multi-stakeholder processes and platforms in seven district members, the implementation of ecological fiscal transfer schemes in three districts, and the use of a shared reporting framework by two members.

The report also includes brief description of LTKL’s nine members, including their forest and peat areas, and potential commodities identified for sustainable production. LTKL’s vision is to implement sustainable development at district level to support the national priorities, and its mission is to protect environmental functions while growing prosperity in the member districts.

Over the period of 2022/2023, LTKL will focus on building “blueprints” for its members to develop and implement jurisdictional sustainability pillars, namely policies, development plans, multi-stakeholder processes, communications, and collective action, investment, and innovation.

In its annual meeting in July 2022, LTKL established five working groups comprising district members and LTKL partners, including civil society organisations (CSOs) and companies, to develop these blueprints. LTKL also aims to link incentives to initiatives in the districts and monitor their progress through its gotong royong (collaboration) database and map.

The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) has created the Forest Positive Coalition of Action, led by 21 companies with a collective market value of US$2 trillion, to leverage collective action and accelerate systemic efforts to remove deforestation, forest degradation and conversion from key commodity supply chains, while supporting sustainable forest management, conservation and restoration. The Coalition believes that its collective reach will enable members to make progress on four goals:
(1) Accelerate efforts to remove commodity-driven deforestation from individual supply chains.
(2) Set higher expectations for traders to act across their entire supply base.
(3) Drive transformational change in key commodity landscapes.
(4) Define measurable outcomes on which all members agree to track and report individually and collectively

The Palm Oil Roadmap lays out the specific commitments, actions and KPIs that the group will implement to drive change, recognising equal responsibility but different activities for direct soy buyers and users of embedded soy. Element 4 of the Palm Oil Roadmap highlights the Coalition’s commitment to engage in palm oil production landscapes. Building on the progress made by other initiatives in the palm oil sector, the Coalition will focus on actions where members’ collaboration can add the most value towards a forest positive sector.

The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) has created the Forest Positive Coalition of Action, led by 21 companies with a collective market value of US$2 trillion, to leverage collective action and accelerate systemic efforts to remove deforestation, forest degradation and conversion from key commodity supply chains, while supporting sustainable forest management, conservation and restoration. The Coalition believes that its collective reach will enable members to make progress on four goals:
(1) Accelerate efforts to remove commodity-driven deforestation from individual supply chains.
(2) Set higher expectations for traders to act across their entire supply base.
(3) Drive transformational change in key commodity landscapes.
(4) Define measurable outcomes on which all members agree to track and report individually and collectively

The Soy Roadmap lays out the specific commitments, actions and KPIs that the group will implement to drive change, recognising equal responsibility but different activities for direct soy buyers and users of embedded soy. Element 4 of the Soy Roadmap highlights the Coalition’s commitment to engage in soy production landscapes. Building on the progress made by other initiatives in the soy sector, the Coalition will focus on actions where members’ collaboration can add the most value towards a forest positive sector.

The authority of state- and province-level governments (“second-tier governments”) to make decisions related to slowing deforestation independently of national governments varies widely across countries. Here we systematically catalog whether second-tier governments in 30 tropical countries with high projected future emissions from deforestation possess 14 distinct types of general and forest-related authority.

We compile this information in a free, open-access database. Second-tier governments have broadest authority to reduce deforestation in India, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, China, Laos, Mozambique, and Vietnam. Second-tier governments have the least authority in Central African Republic, Gabon, Angola, Madagascar, Bolivia, Cambodia, Cameroon, Guyana, Suriname, Thailand, and Venezuela. Second-tier governments have intermediate authority in Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Mexico, the Philippines, Colombia, Myanmar, Tanzania, Zambia, and Republic of Congo. Authorities that second-tier governments most commonly possess include development planning, taxation, budgeting, and roads.

Authorities that second-tier governments least commonly possess include land ownership, police, permits for mining, Indigenous affairs, and protected areas. Authorities possessed by an intermediate number of second-tier governments include spatial planning, elections, courts, and permits for agriculture. More than one-quarter of future emissions from deforestation between 2020 and 2050 is projected to come from just seven out of 678 second-tier jurisdictions: Amazonas, Pará, and Mato Grosso (Brazil), Équateur and Orientale (Democratic Republic of Congo), Loreto (Peru), and El Beni (Bolivia).