The combination of new data on soy production with annual tree cover loss shows sustainable soy production will require a holistic approach

The Arco Minero — a massive gold mining operation — has threatened Venezuela’s forests and the Indigenous communities that live there.

New analysis shows agricultural commodities (cattle, oil palm, soy, cocoa, rubber, coffee and wood fiber) accounted for 26% of global tree cover loss.

The agriculture and food industry is struggling to find a clear path to reduce its impact on the world’s forests — a reality that was made overwhelmingly clear when we entered a new decade and most, if not all of the industry, had failed to meet their 2020 no-deforestation commitments. While the start of 2020 […]

When forest degradation and destruction meet local communities who are simply feeding themselves or making their livelihoods, the case for forest preservation gets complicated. In Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Congo Basin, this pattern of clearing and regrowth for subsistence — dubbed shifting cultivation — is thought to have driven the majority of recent, extensive tree […]

As the avocado industry continues to grow in Mexico, particularly in Michoacán and Jalisco, deforestation, water stress and social challenges compound. Demand for avocados has exploded in the last decade, and Mexican production of “green-gold” has expanded to meet it. National production has grown 8% annually since 2009; the country produced 2.2 million tons of […]

The last decade was pivotal for the world’s forests. The 2010s saw the rise of unprecedented new commitments — from governments and the private sector alike — to bring deforestation to heel. The UN REDD+ framework, the New York Declaration on Forests and the Sustainable Development Goals set out ambitious targets to conserve and restore millions […]

Last year, when the Universal Mill List (UML) was launched on Global Forest Watch (GFW) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s (RSPO) PalmTrace, the palm oil industry took a step towards improved supply chain traceability and transparency. Today, the release of a newly updated version of the UML represents another leap forward, further aligning […]

Imagine you are a sustainability officer for a candy company that uses palm oil in its chocolate bars. How do you determine if the oil you are buying has contributed to deforestation? The above graphic represents one potential path palm oil can take from farm to product. It’s a common quandary: More than 360 companies […]

In 2016, the expansion of agricultural frontiers accounted for 98 percent of deforestation in Mexico. While the booming production of avocado (often referred to as Mexico’s “green-gold”) has contributed to the country’s economic growth, it has also caused deforestation and degradation in central and southern Mexican forests. To continue this economic growth without further deforestation, […]

Big data surrounds us. Every minute, our smartphones collect billions of data points on our location, search histories and habits. Data has become one of the world’s most valuable commodities for companies. The $6-billion-dollar sale of the game Candy Crush was not so pricey because of the app itself, but because of the massive amounts of user data […]

Ever wonder where the chocolate in your candy bar came from? With 70 percent of the world’s cocoa produced by Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, chances are your midnight snack started out as a seed pod growing on a cocoa farm in West Africa.   Chocolate is made by fermenting and drying the seeds of the cocoa pod. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI. West […]