IQUITOS, Peru  — The National Wildlife Federation heralded the Peruvian palm oil Producers' Association’s newly announced commitment to enter into an agreement for sustainable and deforestation-free palm oil production as a momentous win for wildlife and sustainable agriculture. The commitment, if followed through, would make Peru the second South American country after Colombia to commit to deforestation-free palm oil production. 
  
“This commitment is a momentous development for the people of Peru and the global effort to confront climate change. It underscores that we can feed the world without hurting biodiversity or clear-cutting tropical forests,” said Kiryssa Kasprzyk, who led the National Wildlife Federation’s work.

“The National Wildlife Federation and its local partner, Sociedad Peruana de Ecodesarrollo, have worked with Peruvian palm oil Producers' Association (JUNPALMA) and the country’s government, especially the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, for two years to get to this point, and we are committed to ensuring this agreement becomes a reality,” as indicated by Gregorio Saenz, JUNPALMA’s General Manager, at the IX Expo Amazonica, an event of great importance for the promotion and debate about the sustainable development of the Peruvian Amazon. Through the speech, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation reiterated its commitment to developing agriculture free of deforestation and focused on family farms and small producers, to improve the well-being of the country's producers.

The newly announced commitment would set Peru on a course to end deforestation driven by palm oil production by 2021, in accordance with the Joint Declaration of Intent signed with Norway and Germany to end deforestation by this date. 
  
The commitment also follows a recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on climate change and land use, which showed countries need to minimize conversion of forests and sensitive habitat in South and North America alike to crop land. The report also highlighted how responsibly managing, utilizing, and growing our forests is critical to responding to the global climate crisis.