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Tropical Agriculture, Forests, and Climate
The Forest Footprint Disclosure project and the National Wildlife Federation have announced the results of the 2010 disclosure survey.
The FFD survey instrument was sent to 285 companies overall, 88 of which were based in the U.S. In total, 12 of these agreed to disclose, including major brands PepsiCo., Avon, Best Buy and Lowe’s. All participants were assigned to 1 of 15 sectors based on the nature of their business, including Food Production & Soft Drinks, Accessories & Footwear, and Travel and Leisure. In each sector, the best reports were singled out for their excellent performance.
The full list of US participants and sector winners and a list of those companies who received a request but did not disclose can be found below:
Download the full list here (PDF)
New report: Food, Fuel, or Forests? Charting A Responsible U.S. Role in Global Palm Oil Expansion
Download the full report here (PDF 9MB)
NWF's new report warns that the increased demand for palm oil—which makes its way into the U.S. in a myriad of food and cosmetic products—may lead to further loss of tropical forests and create new greenhouse gas emissions if palm oil expansion is not managed sustainably.
Palm oil has overtaken soybean and canola as the world’s largest source of vegetable oils. Over the next decade, global demand for vegetable oils and biofuels are expected to rise between 50% and 40% respectively. However, palm oil expansion has been linked to significant increases in tropical deforestation, social conflict, and emissions of greenhouse gases that result from the clearing and draining of tropical forests and peatlands. While the majority of plantations are currently in Southeast Asia, the palm oil industry is aggressively branching out into Latin America and Africa
It is estimated that up 50% of packaged retail food products now contain palm oil, and U.S. demand may rise sharply in the years ahead. This report sets out the steps U.S. companies can take to play an active role in improving the environmental and social standards of the palm oil industry.
New short report: From Major Driver of Deforestation and Greenhouse Gas Emissions to Forest Guardians? New Developments in Brazil's Amazon Cattle Industry
Released at the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun.
Download the full report here (PDF)
Clearing tropical forests to make way for commodity agriculture is a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions, especially as worldwide demand for livestock, palm oil, soy, tropical wood, and other products continues to increase.
An international climate change treaty, with a recognized price for carbon, could help protect forests. But this will take time and our planet cannot wait.
The National Wildlife Federation is collaborating with leaders of major commodity industries to address the "forest footprint" of rising consumer demand for key agricultural products.
Working Towards Market-Based Solutions
National Wildlife Federation is working with international producers, retailers and consumers to develop innovative standards that will eliminate tropical deforestation from major commodity supply chains for:
Biofuels
Livestock
- NWF is an active member of the Brazilian Working Group for Sustainable Livestock (Grupo de Trabalho Pecuária Sustentável).
- NWF's international Workshop on Solutions to Deforestation for Cattle Expansion in the Brazilian Amazon brought together for the first time major industry actors, government and non-governmental organizations, to agree on the key building blocks for responsible cattle production in Brazil.
- NWF advises the Leather Working Group on the inclusion of forest protection measures in their environmental standards for leather production.
Tropical Forest Products
Our Other Initiatives
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Introducing a new risk reporting tool, in collaboration with the Forest Footprint Disclosure Project, that enables major corporations to measure and disclose financial and reputational risks to their operations, posed by their dependence on commodities sourced from recently cleared rainforests.
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Producing a series of white papers, or "think pieces," that analyze the problem of deforestation for commodity agriculture and propose solutions. The summary of our first white paper: "From Source to Sink" (pdf), documents the tropical forest impacts of major agricultural production, explores the effectiveness of "sustainability standards" and certification systems, and proposes ways to provide financial incentives for production without deforestation.
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Designing pilot projects that demonstrate the potential for "sustainable commodities" markets to reduce agricultural impacts on tropical forests, and foster best practices.