Public and private sustainability initiatives, in and beyond supply chains
Channel: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Date: 09/05/2022

Public and private sustainability initiatives, in and beyond supply chains, to promote greater inclusion of smallholders and SMEs

The multiplication of sustainability initiatives has been driven by the growing complexity and diversity of conditions under which agri-food and timber supply chains operate. They involve many different types of actors who can all have an indirect influence on land-use decisions. There is, typically, a lack of articulation between the different initiatives.

Broad interest in Voluntary Sustainability Standards has been accompanied by other private governance regulations suchas codes of conduct, principles and guidelines, moratoria and wider commitments to sustainability. More recent steps include the adoption of public and private commitments to Zero Deforestation as a way of responding to consumer pressure on deforestation-free supply chains. Nevertheless, the latest Forest 500 report indicates that no palm oil, soy, cattle or timber company that has committed to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains by 2020 will meet this goal.

This panel explores some of the many challenges to implementing public and private sustainability initiatives using four case studies, viz.