Category: Theme 5: Impacts of trade and investment on forests and people


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  • Planted forests in emerging economies: Best practices for sustainable and responsible investments

Planted forests in emerging economies: Best practices for sustainable and responsible investments

18 July, 2016

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Authors: Brotto, L.; Pettenella, D.; Cerutti, P.O.; Pirard, R.

Investments in industrial-scale planted forests have grown exponentially in recent years and are included into investment portfolios for various reasons (e.g. diversification, risk mitigation, attractive returns). The rapid growth of planted forests may incur negative social and environmental impacts. Thus, investment companies and fund managers are increasingly interested in using sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) tools (e.g. standards, guidelines, and codes of conduct). However, a classification system for SRI tools in the field of planted forests still lacks consensus.

The present study under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry therefore identifies, describes and analyzes SRI tools for planted forests and suggests a framework for the evaluation of their capacity to address environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

Four key findings emerged:

  • More than 50 SRI tools are used to categorize investments in planted forest. The most common SRI tools used are management standards, bank investment policies and investment rating systems.
  • An ESG Reference Document allows a quality assessment of the SRI tools to be undertaken. The most important issues highlighted in SRI tools are: legality, environmental impact and third-party certification. Conversely, issues such as poverty alleviation, minimum percentage of protected areas and prevention of encroachment are not properly addressed.
  • SRI tools with the highest overall performance originate from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Gold Standard, RepRisk, Certified B Corporation and FairForest and also include the WWF Responsible Investment Guide and the FTSE4Good Index Series.
  • It is important that planted forests are evaluated either through specific SRI tools, or at least with appropriate consideration in order to properly address risk factors such as improvement of livelihoods and the prevention of encroachment and conflicts.

CIFOR Occasional Paper no. 151

Published 2016 at Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

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  • FTA events: Increased transparency is pushing private sector toward deforestation-free commodities

FTA events: Increased transparency is pushing private sector toward deforestation-free commodities

17 July, 2016

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The Director of the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020, Marco Albani, speaks on the sidelines of the Global Landscapes Forum: The Investment Case, held on 6 June 2016 in London, a key event under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

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  • FTA Events: CIFOR's Peter Holmgren on finance, fairness and future development

FTA Events: CIFOR’s Peter Holmgren on finance, fairness and future development

14 July, 2016

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At the Global Landscapes Forum 2016: The Investment Case, Peter Holmgren, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), gave an interview about finance, fairness and future development. The Forum is a key event under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry. Originally published at landscapes.org. See the transcript below.

Why hold a Global Landscapes Forum?

We thought that one of the biggest gaps in the whole development discourse is, how do we find the finance that needs to be invested in fair and equitable ways to achieve all the things we need to achieve on the ground?

What is the case for investment?

The development frameworks that we see emerging now – both the Agenda 2030 with its Sustainable Development Goals and also the Paris Agreement on climate change – they both call for engagement of the finance sector.

What do you mean by ‘landscapes’?

I think there is a point not to define it too strongly or too clearly, because when we talk about landscapes, we talk about all the activities, all the small businesses, all the different sectors that are active on the ground. It’s forestry, it’s farming, it’s fisheries, it’s many other things. And we don’t want to separate them, we want to talk about them together. That’s why we talk about landscapes.

What needs to be done?

Many of the Sustainable Development Goals will have to be achieved in the landscapes, whether we’re talking about reducing poverty, reducing hunger, improving food security, improving access to water, improving the way we protect nature.

What next?

I’d say that we can’t have conferences and discussions for the sake of having conferences and discussions. We also need to make sure that we move towards action on the ground. The ‘Dragon’s Den’ represents an opportunity to actually move ahead, to take action and to develop the investment opportunities.

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  • Impacts of industrial timber plantations in Indonesia: An analysis of rural populations’ perceptions in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java

Impacts of industrial timber plantations in Indonesia: An analysis of rural populations’ perceptions in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java

29 June, 2016

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Authors: Pirard, R.; Petit, H.; Baral, H.; Achdiawan, R.

Industrial timber plantations are controversial in many parts of the world. Indonesia provides an interesting case study, with its history of conflicts over land use and current ambitions for plantation expansion.

This study investigated perceived impacts of plantations on nearby rural populations. A survey was conducted of 606 respondents across three islands (Java, Borneo and Sumatra), three tree species (acacia, teak and pine) and three end uses (pulpwood, timber production and resin production). In addition, a Q-method analysis was conducted at a site with an established pulpwood plantation in order to identify significantly diverse perceptions of the plantation among villagers. The methods were combined to arrive at a representative view of these perceptions and expectations.

Results illustrate a diversity of viewpoints among villagers, with perceptions varying from general dissatisfaction to enthusiasm. Perceptions of pine and teak plantations tend to differ from acacia pulpwood plantations. For pine and teak, respondents reported a higher number and greater variety of benefits and services, higher number of perceived positive impacts in general, a better environmental record, and more opportunities to use plantation land and products for rural livelihoods. These results contrast with the heavy focus around acacia plantations on economic development and infrastructure. Hence, acacia plantations enjoy some level of recognition for opening up remote areas and providing infrastructure and services that are traditionally the responsibility of the state. Data were disaggregated by gender to enable further analysis, and offer a general indication that plantation development has not affected women more negatively than men.

Our analysis leads to several clear directions for the improvement of plantation management. The role of the state must be clarified and potentially reinforced, except if the burden of development, including that of infrastructure, is to remain the responsibility of companies. Lessons can be drawn from the teak and pine cases in Java as to the performance of institutions that act as intermediaries between companies and people. Contributions by communities should be facilitated early in the planning stages, and this should apply in particular to land claims, to the organization of the labor force (including the privileged form of work contract), to the spatial distribution of the plantation in order to leave aside areas of local value, and to options for land sharing, as this is a major vehicle for fruitful coexistence.

Published at Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) 2016

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  • Global Landscapes Forum--The Investment Case: “We need courage to go outside our comfort zones”

Global Landscapes Forum–The Investment Case: “We need courage to go outside our comfort zones”

13 June, 2016

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Also watch the video on the event. Click to play.
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The Global Landscapes Forum: The Investment Case in London on 6 June 2016 brought together experts from the financial services industry with leaders from the corporate sector, government and academia to take investments into sustainable landscapes to the next level. This second edition of the event offered a unique platform for experts to explore the role of private finance in enhancing livelihoods and landscapes across the globe.
The event was attended by experts such as Peter Holmgren, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), World Bank Lead Environmental Economist Paola Agostini, CEO of ADM Capital Christopher Botsford and Tropical Forest Alliance Director Marco Albani. In this video, they speak about the importance of connecting finance and sustainable landscapes at the Forum, which is a key event under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

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  • How can the financial services sector strengthen the sustainability and inclusivity of smallholder farming in the supply of global commodity crops?

How can the financial services sector strengthen the sustainability and inclusivity of smallholder farming in the supply of global commodity crops?

02 June, 2016

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Also read White Paper
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White Paper for The Global Landscapes Forum: The Investment Case, London, 6 June 2016, related to the discussion forum Smallholder finance – evidence from the tropics, organized by Pablo Pacheco, coordinator of Flagship 5 of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

Authors: Noemi Perez, FAST International; Jan Willem van Gelder, Profundo; Hans Smit, SNV; Pablo Pacheco and Sophia Gnych, CIFOR

Smallholder farmers play a key role in the production of agricultural crops for local, national and, increasingly, international markets, including high-value tree crops.1 As commercial-scale agriculture has expanded and markets have seen greater integration, smallholders are forced to compete with agribusiness to meet a rising demand for food, fiber and fuel. But smallholders remain disenfranchised, often facing economic, financial and institutional constraints that make the adoption of more efficient practices and technologies more difficult and limit productivity and local livelihoods.

A good example of this are oil palm smallholders in Indonesia, whose participation in the sector is growing rapidly. Despite their important contribution to national production, oil palm smallholders risk exclusion from global markets as agricultural standards evolve, and they struggle to adopt improved production practices.4 Finance has the potential to play a significant role in supporting the upgrading of production systems and delivering more effective resource management5 , as well as helping to fulfill a growing demand for agricultural and tree-crops that meet sustainability standards.

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  • Risky business: Uptake and implementation of sustainability standards and certification schemes in the Indonesian palm oil sector

Risky business: Uptake and implementation of sustainability standards and certification schemes in the Indonesian palm oil sector

27 May, 2016

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Authors: Gnych, S.; Limberg, G.; Paoli, G.

Evolving international sustainability norms demand greater environmental and social responsibility from business across global commodity chains – from countries of origin to countries of consumption. Conventional commandand-control regulation has had limited success in addressing negative environmental and social impacts. As a result, advocacy groups and NGOs have championed a diversity of market-based and multi-stakeholder governance approaches aimed at shifting the private sector towards delivering more sustainable business models.

Multiple non-state, market-driven social and environmental standards have emerged for palm oil. Through interviews with growers and key stakeholders in the Indonesian palm oil industry this occasional paper explores the motivations driving the uptake of sustainability standards, as well as the factors supporting and preventing implementation of sustainability standards, and asks, what model of sustainable oil palm agriculture is ultimately being built?

Five key themes emerged:

  • Business risk drives change, whether associated with access to market, operational risks associated with local communities or lack of clarity related to government regulations.
  • Shareholder self-interest is the key to commitments and determines the priority that sustainability gets within the firm.
  • Interactions between motivations, as well as between motivations and context-dependent variables, are complex, but understanding these interactions can help develop meaningful incentives and disincentives for growers to adopt sustainability standards.
  • The diversity of the producer supply base in Indonesia presents a challenge for private and public standards as producers respond differently to incentives and disincentives.
  • Government will need to play a role in facilitating uptake of sustainability standards and engage in multistakeholder sustainability processes. Currently capacity, and in some cases willingness, to move toward evolving norms of sustainable agriculture is limited among government ministries.
Also published at CIFOR
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  • Beyond Timber: forest management models for transforming conflict into cooperation

Beyond Timber: forest management models for transforming conflict into cooperation

23 May, 2016

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Author: Ceci P.; Taedoumg H.; Gotor E.; Spedding V.

The competing needs of different groups who depend upon the Congo Basin rainforest can be met if innovative, new research-based models for multiple-use forest management are employed. The models, together with accompanying policy guidance, have been endorsed by the region’s forest administration body COMIFAC and offer the potential to alleviate both the conflict between groups and the pressures on the landscape, allowing livelihoods and forest to flourish. Underpinned by groundbreaking, multi-disciplinary, international research, the models embody combined insights into local people’s needs, the ecological and genetic basis of forest sustainability and regeneration, and the interests of commercial logging outfits.

Published by Bioversity International 2016

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  • The impact of land property rights interventions on investment and agricultural productivity in developing countries: a systematic review

The impact of land property rights interventions on investment and agricultural productivity in developing countries: a systematic review

19 May, 2016

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Authors: Steven Lawry, Cyrus Samii, Ruth Hall, Aaron Leopold, Donna Hornby & Farai Mtero

We conducted a systematic review on the effects of land tenure recognition interventions on agricultural productivity, income, investment and other relevant outcomes. We synthesise findings from 20 quantitative studies and nine qualitative studies that passed a methodological screening. The results indicate substantial productivity and income gains from land tenure recognition, although gains differ markedly by region. We find that these effects may operate through gains in perceived tenure security and investment; we find no evidence for a credit mechanism. The qualitative synthesis highlights potential adverse effects. A conclusion emphasises the need for further research on inter-regional differences and on the role of customary tenure arrangements.

Journal of Development Effectiveness, April 2016
also at Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Read blog Securing land rights = better livelihoods for communities? Not necessarily

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  • Green growth rhetoric versus reality: Insights from Indonesia

Green growth rhetoric versus reality: Insights from Indonesia

12 May, 2016

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Authors: Anderson, Z.R.; Kusters, K.; McCarthy, J.F.; Obidzinski, K.

2030 Indonesia aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 29% while maintaining a 7% annual GDP growth rate, thus making “green economy” a reality. Based on a review of literature and secondary data and interviews with key informants, this article examines the gap between these national ambitions and the reality on the ground, with particular attention to the challenges of multi-scalar environmental governance.

It first introduces the green economy concept and discusses the main green growth policies and initiatives at the national level. The article then examines green growth ambitions at the provincial level in East Kalimantan province. Our findings suggest that existing plans to further expand oil palm plantations are at odds with provincial efforts to reduce emissions. This highlights a key paradox we identify at the heart of the green economy concept as it is developing in Indonesia: between a development trajectory based on resource extraction and agro-industrial development, and ‘green’ aspirations linked to environmental protection and greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

We conclude that the main challenges to address these contradictions are related to the lack of coordination between different governance scales and a political economy that is not conducive to reforms in the land-based sector. There is a need to align investment, planning, and green growth policies, based on a strong political commitment and an awareness of social and environmental trade-offs. On a more general level the article shows that the green economy concept refers to a form of environmental governance in which authorities and interests may overlap and come into conflict at different scales. Hence, differing priorities may lead the material expression of the green economy to diverge significantly from policy as it is initially laid out.

also at CIFOR
Published at Global Environmental Change, Volume 38, May 2016, Pages 30–40

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  • Public and private actions for shifting towards sustainable production of beef and palm oil

Public and private actions for shifting towards sustainable production of beef and palm oil

11 May, 2016

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By Pablo Pacheco at Land and Poverty Conference Washington, 2016
[slideshare id=61893161&doc=ppachecowb20163-12-2016wscreen-160511071826&w=595&h=485]

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  • Taking the Bitter with the Sweet: Sugarcane’s Return as a Driver of Tropical Deforestation

Taking the Bitter with the Sweet: Sugarcane’s Return as a Driver of Tropical Deforestation

26 April, 2016

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Click on the image to read the new study on sugarcane
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Authors: Obidzinski, K.; Kusters, K.; Gnych, S.

Over more than 400 years, large areas of tropical forest in Brazil, the Caribbean, the Philippines, Australia, and other parts of the world were cleared to make way for sugarcane plantations. There is a general consensus in the scientific community that since the 1950s, the frontier expansion of sugarcane has stabilized and direct pressure on tropical forests from sugarcane expansion has diminished. Here, we show, however, that sugarcane plantations are on the cusp of returning as a major driver of deforestation in Indonesia.

The Indonesian government has developed preferential policies designed to boost sugar production in the name of national food security, and is seeking to convert more than 1 million hectares of tropical forest into sugarcane plantations. If fully developed, the plantation expansion program will undermine Indonesia’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The scale of the expansion program is such that it will radically alter the global environmental impact of sugarcane.

Publication Year: 2015

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  • FTA event recap - 2015 Global Landscapes Forum: Shaping sustainable supply chains of the future

FTA event recap – 2015 Global Landscapes Forum: Shaping sustainable supply chains of the future

21 April, 2016

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Watch this Discussion Forum on the first day of the Global Landscapes Forum 2015, in Paris, France alongside COP21. The Global Landscapes Forum is the major event related to the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA). Tony Simons, Director General of FTA Partner World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) played an active role in the discussion.

The session examined sustainable-sourcing solutions – mobilizing large companies’ purchasing power and using real-world case studies. Participants pondered questions such as:

What are the trends regarding strategic resource cycles?

What are the conditions required and the obstacles?

How to encourage private investment in landscape restoration?

Find out more at Global Landscapes Forum

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  • Agricultural investments in Mozambique: An analysis of investment trends, business models and social and environmental conduct

Agricultural investments in Mozambique: An analysis of investment trends, business models and social and environmental conduct

20 April, 2016

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Also read the Working Paper on agricultural investments in Mozambique
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Authors: Di Matteo, F.; Schoneveld, G.C.

This paper has been funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA).

The recent influx of agricultural investment to Africa is increasingly equated with land grabbing by investors from emerging and Northern economies seeking to produce commodities to serve the needs of their own food and energy markets. This paper reflects on this discourse by unpacking agricultural investments in Mozambique – one of the largest recipients of agricultural investment in Africa. By drawing on official investment data and structured interviews conducted with 69 agricultural investors in Mozambique, this paper analyzes agricultural investment trends, characteristics and the factors that shape investors’ social and environmental conduct. It illustrates that, contrary to popular depiction, regional investors, domestic food end-markets, and private finance are the primary drivers of investment. Moreover, this paper shows that investors differ significantly in the types of strategies, business models and practices they adopt. The findings highlight a lack of nuance in the global agricultural investment discourse and the need for more evidence-based policy intervention in order to adequately leverage the potential of agricultural investments to contribute to inclusive green growth.

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Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) 2016

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  • Making timber certification work for local markets

Making timber certification work for local markets

12 April, 2016

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Timber certification can have negative impacts on local industries. In this video, CIFOR Scientists working under the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry presented their research in Kalimantan, Indonesia, to help the government formulate suitable local regulations.

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