Megan Rowling Barcelona
GOVERNMENTS, firms and investors still had significant work to do if they were to stop global supply chains causing deforestation and worsening climate change, a tropical forest think-tank said yesterday.
A new ranking of 250 firms, 150 investors and lenders, 50 countries and regions, and 50 other powerful players showed only a small minority have comprehensive policies in place to tackle the problem.
At the current rate of progress, international goals to end deforestation would not be met, the Global Canopy Programme warned. “Whilst some powerbrokers are leading the way in addressing global forest loss, many are failing to take the action required,” it said in a report on the “Forest 500” (www.forest500.org).
Over the last decade, growing global demand for food, animal feed and fuel has been responsible for more than half of deforestation in tropical and sub-tropical regions, according to the report.
Deforestation and changes in land use caused more than 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, undermine water security and threatened the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people worldwide, it added.
Progress on curbing tree losses and emissions has been made, including last year’s New York Declaration on Forests, signed by businesses, governments and indigenous people. It aims to cut natural forest loss in half by 2020 and end it by 2030.
A separate pledge to achieve net-zero deforestation by 2020 – meaning any lost forest is replaced – has been made by the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), a global coalition of companies, including major manufacturers and retailers.
In the Forest 500 analysis of corporate policies, CGF members – which include Unilever, Nestlé and Danone – scored 80 percent higher than those outside the alliance.
But across the 250 firms assessed, just 7 percent had zero-deforestation policies in place that covered all their operations and commodities.
Home care, cosmetics and personal care businesses performed best, while the animal feed industry lagged behind.
About 60 percent of firms in timber and palm oil supply chains had deforestation commitments, compared with just 26 percent in beef and leather.
Thirty firms, many based in Asia and the Middle East, scored zero points, as did numerous investors. – Reuters