The Rainforest Alliance is committed to helping the world meet both its climate mitigation and adaptation goals across farms, forests, and rural landscapes. Climate action at the Rainforest Alliance revolves around two core objectives: significantly reducing emissions in agriculture, forestry, and land use, while also fostering climate resilience and improved livelihoods for rural communities. The Rainforest Alliance approach puts rural communities and nature at the center of the solution. Explore how the Rainforest Alliance is working to build climate resilience and reduce emissions across farms, forests, and rural landscapes around the world, and discover how you can join us in our mission.

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The findings offer valuable insights into the potential for increased carbon storage, the impacts of deforestation on biodiversity, and the sensitivity of carbon, timber, and species richness to forest age. The comprehensive analysis of diverse data sources enhances the understanding of global forest carbon dynamics and informs future research and policy development in climate change and forest management.

Highlights

• Global Forests as Carbon Sinks: Global forests consistently absorb around 3.6 Pg C yr−1, offsetting nearly half of fossil-fuel emissions and playing a critical role in mitigating climate change.
• Regional Variations in Carbon Sinks: While temperate and regrowth tropical forests increased their carbon absorption by 30% and 29%, respectively, boreal and intact tropical forests saw decreases of 36% and 31% due to intensified disturbances and deforestation.
• Impact of Deforestation: Two-thirds of the carbon absorption benefits provided by global forests are negated by tropical deforestation, emphasizing the urgent need for effective land management policies to protect these crucial carbon sinks.

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This report summarizes findings and recommendations from a 15-month study initiated to advance understanding of the use of landscape and jurisdictional approaches as a key corporate strategy for downstream and midstream companies to achieve sustainable sourcing and have positive impacts in the regions they are sourcing from.

The study identified 113 companies supporting landscape and jurisdictional initiatives across 91 initiatives, in 19 countries. Recommendations have been drawn from the research for downstream and midstream companies to mobilize more private sector action.

Key recommendations for companies

• Increase landscape-scale action and integrate it into corporate sustainability and business strategy
• Invite and/or incentivize other private sector actors to take landscape-scale action
• Spotlight multi-stakeholder collaboration to transition towards sustainable land use at scale
• Align resources and efforts in committed and/or progressing landscape and jurisdictions.

The report contains three further recommendations for the wider community working with landscape and jurisdictional approaches. Using the results from the research, a business case is presented in the report for companies to see the opportunities and assist the transformation to sustainable commodity production through multi-stakeholder collaboration at scale.

This report is part of a global study that aims to understand how midstream and downstream companies have been using landscape and jurisdictional approaches to address commodity-driven deforestation. The study includes five commodity specific reports on cocoa, palm oil, pulp, paper and packaging, beef and soy landscape-scale action as well as this final summary report. The study also delves deeper into other possible uses of these approaches, in a report on meeting corporate climate, nature and people goals.

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This study in La Jagua de Ibirico, Colombia, compares soil hydraulic characteristics in shade-grown coffee, a 15-year-old regenerated forest, pasture, and reference forest. Findings indicate similarities in saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) between coffee and the reference forest, showcasing agroforestry’s positive impact on soil hydrological functions. Moreover, 15 years of forest regeneration after land abandonment demonstrate improvements in soil hydraulic attributes, highlighting the potential for positive ecological outcomes.

Key takeaways

1. Agroforestry boosts hydrological function: Shade-grown coffee exhibits comparable saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) values to the reference forest, showcasing the positive impact of trees on soil hydrological functioning in agroforestry systems.
2. Forest regeneration improves soil attributes: After 15 years of regeneration, the formerly abandoned Sub-Andean Forest shows enhanced soil hydraulic attributes, emphasizing the positive ecological effects of forest regrowth on soil health.
3. Water repellency in reference forest: Soil water repellency is observed in the reference forest, shedding light on additional soil characteristics that contribute to the complexity of soil hydrology in tropical environments.

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This book explores the impact of coffee agroecosystems on soil hydrological functions, focusing on the potential benefits and challenges associated with land-use change. Utilizing low-cost methodologies like the Steady Simplified Beerkan Infiltration (SSBI) method and visual soil assessment (VSA), the study examines various land-use types in Guatemala. Key findings highlight the positive influence of shade trees on soil hydrological properties and the microclimatic benefits of leaf litter in seven-year-old shade-grown coffee. The book concludes with a recommendation for regular monitoring to understand the temporal variability in tropical land-use systems.

Key takeaways

1. Shade trees boost hydrological properties: Thirty-year-old shade-grown coffee (CN) exhibits the highest saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) values, indicating that shade trees positively impact soil hydrological properties in coffee agroecosystems.
2. Microclimatic benefits of leaf litter: Seven-year-old shade-grown coffee (CP) demonstrates higher soil volumetric water content (VWC) and a significant positive effect of leaf litter on soil temperature, highlighting the positive impact of leaf litter on microclimatic conditions and soil moisture.
3. Effective low-cost methodologies: The Steady Simplified Beerkan Infiltration (SSBI) method, coupled with visual soil assessment (VSA), proves to be a cost-effective and easily implementable approach for assessing soil hydraulic and physical characteristics in various land-use types.

The post Low cost and easy to implement physical and hydrological soil assessment of shade-grown coffee in Santa Rosa, Guatemala appeared first on Global Landscapes Forum.

In the recent book Power Dynamics in African Forests: The Politics of Global Sustainability, authors Symphorien Ongolo and Max Krott explore the historical and current challenges of forestland governance in Africa, emphasizing the power dynamics between actors involved in resource exploitation and biodiversity conservation policies. It investigates the intersection of global sustainability agendas with domestic politics in Africa, revealing how actors in forest-rich countries employ complex informal strategies to resist the dominance of powerful global environmental players.

Tahina Roland, a young Malagasy agronomist and GLF 2023 Drylands Restoration Steward is the author of chapter 9 titled Linking Institutional Weaknesses to Deforestation Drivers in the Governance of Protected Areas in Madagascar.

In his article, Tahina investigates the persistence of deforestation in Menabe-Antimena, one of Madagascar’s significant protected areas (PAs). While the expansion of PA networks is a key focus of conservation efforts, effective management is crucial for biodiversity preservation. Using the Institutional Analysis and Development framework, the study reveals that inadequate funding for PA managers, insufficient alternatives for farmers, and a focus on enforcing laws against farmers rather than private sector operators contribute to deforestation for cash crop cultivation. The PA’s limited integration into regional economic and governance priorities further hampers conservation efforts, making shifting cultivation an attractive option for local communities, while regional authorities struggle to protect the area from the cash crop industry driving deforestation.

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About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’

The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilised action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet.

The conference featured two focused days: Day 1 centered on “Africa’s Sovereign Solutions,” exploring pathways to a sustainable and prosperous future for the continent. Day 2, dedicated to climate, aimed to craft a “Survival Guide for a Planet in Crisis,” paving the way for a fairer world ahead of COP28.

GLF Nairobi brought together a diverse coalition of influential voices, ranging from scientists, activists, and Indigenous leaders to financiers, women, youth, policymakers, and private sector representatives. As a united front, we collectively championed change and passionately advocated for meaningful action in these pivotal times.

About this session

The side event, co-organized with the Stand 4 Her Land Campaign, GROOTS Kenya, and ILC Africa, brought grassroots women, government and CSO representatives, as well as international development agencies together to: 1) highlight the nexus between land restoration, secure women land rights, and addressing the climate crises; 2) share knowledge and successful practices by women restoring land in highland and rangeland ecosystems; 3) create opportunities for networking and alliance building to advance land restoration goals.

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About GLF Nairobi 2023: ‘A new Vision for Earth’

The GLF Nairobi 2023 Hybrid Conference, held on October 11 and 12, convened global thought leaders to set the stage for COP28, the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference. This pivotal event mobilised action on critical issues affecting humanity, biodiversity, and our planet.

The conference featured two focused days: Day 1 centered on “Africa’s Sovereign Solutions,” exploring pathways to a sustainable and prosperous future for the continent. Day 2, dedicated to climate, aimed to craft a “Survival Guide for a Planet in Crisis,” paving the way for a fairer world ahead of COP28.

GLF Nairobi brought together a diverse coalition of influential voices, ranging from scientists, activists, and Indigenous leaders to financiers, women, youth, policymakers, and private sector representatives. As a united front, we collectively championed change and passionately advocated for meaningful action in these pivotal times.

About this session

This session examined the potential of jurisdictional approaches as a pathway to address challenges on the ground, focusing on case studies in Indonesia. Jurisdictional approaches promote multistakeholder collaboration, create incentives or value proportions and connect the dots between different types of initiatives across level or sector. They have been implemented to improve forest conservation and sustainable commodity development in Indonesia, including in the oil palm sector.

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Project flyer (Bahasa)

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