OECD-FAO Business Handbook on Deforestation and Due Diligence in Agricultural Supply Chains


Book Description

This handbook was developed by OECD and FAO to help companies embed considerations on deforestation and forest degradation into their corporate due diligence procedures. It is informed by FAO’s extensive work and experience on halting deforestation and forest degradation and promoting responsible governance of tenure. The handbook builds on the leading international, government-backed standards on supply chain due diligence and responsible business conduct: the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the associated due diligence framework set out in the OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct. This handbook demonstrates how the OECD-FAO Guidance can be applied to address deforestation by contextualizing existing recommendations and directing users towards helpful sources of due diligence information.




Halting deforestation from agricultural value chains: the role of governments


Book Description

This paper summarizes the current state of concepts and approaches for addressing deforestation in the trade, marketing, and production of agricultural commodities that have a disproportionate impact on forests at international, national, and landscape level. To date, predominant attention has been directed towards the role of the private sector and "consumer countries" that shape market regulation. This publication aims to complement the international discourse by generating a greater focus on the role of "producer country" governments at the national and local level to support efforts to decouple agricultural production from deforestation.




Towards more resilient and diverse planted forests


Book Description

FAO’s most recent global synthesis on planted forests was released in 2009 and the last Unasylva on planted forests was published in 2005. Developed together with a coalition of external partners, including the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) task force on planted forests and the TreeDivNet network, Issue 254 hereby responds to the need for wider information-sharing on data, tools and approaches available for leveraging the contributions of planted forests to meet the target of increasing the global forest area of 3 percent by 2030, which Global Forest Goal 1 provides for. Unasylva issue 254 was launched in November 2023 at the International Congress on Planted Forests 2023 (ICPF2023) – the first edition of this global forum to be held in Africa (Nairobi, Kenya).




Responsible business conduct in the avocado industry: a guide for producers and exporters


Book Description

This guide aims to support growers and businesses operating in the global avocado industry in their efforts to implement responsible business conduct (RBC) practices to improve the sustainability of their operations. By committing to RBC and implementing due diligence processes, these businesses can avoid social conflicts and environmental damage, which will also help to minimize financial losses and maintain long-term profitability. Responsible business conduct helps to identify, prioritize and deal with problems as they arise, rather than waiting for them to grow bigger or be discovered by others. The purpose of this guide is to strengthen the capacity of avocado producing, packing and exporting businesses and associations, including small and medium-sized companies, to begin their RBC journey by implementing Step 2 of the due diligence process (i.e. identify and prioritize risks of negative impacts). The guide also discusses ways to address these risks to implement Step 3: Cease, remedy, prevent and/or mitigate risks. The guide builds on the OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains and provides references to many other useful resources. It was developed by the Responsible Fruits Project with support from the Government of Germany.




Responsible business conduct in the pineapple industry: a guide for producers and exporters


Book Description

This guide aims to support growers and businesses operating in the global pineapple industry in their efforts to implement responsible business conduct (RBC) practices to improve the sustainability of their operations. By committing to RBC and implementing due diligence processes, these businesses can avoid social conflicts and environmental damage, which will also help to minimize financial losses and maintain long-term profitability. Responsible business conduct helps to identify, prioritize and deal with problems as they arise, rather than waiting for them to grow bigger or be discovered by others. The purpose of this guide is to strengthen the capacity of pineapple producing, packing and exporting businesses and associations, including small and medium-sized companies, to begin their RBC journey by implementing Step 2 of the due diligence process (i.e. identify and prioritize risks of negative impacts). The guide also discusses ways to address these risks to implement Step 3: Cease, remedy, prevent and/or mitigate risks. The guide builds on the OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains and provides references to many other useful resources. It was developed by the Responsible Fruits Project with support from the Government of Germany.




Can smallholder farmers in Honduras and Guatemala export deforestation-free coffee to the European Union?


Book Description

The new EU Regulation for Deforestation-Free Imports (EUDR) stipulates that by 2025, certain commodities may only be imported to the European Union if it can be proven that they have been produced on land that has not been subjected to deforestation or forest degradation. [Author] One of these commodities – coffee – is a source of income for farmers in Guatemala and Honduras, representing 14 percent and 52 percent of these countries’ agrifood exports respectively. [Author] In 2023, one fifth of all Guatemalan coffee and half of the coffee exported from Honduras was destined to the European Union, and the majority was produced by smallholders whose livelihoods face significant threats from climate change and rising production costs. [Author] In this context, the public and private actors who manage and govern the coffee supply chains in these countries must develop cost-effective traceability systems that can help farmers verify the deforestation-free origin of their coffee without worsening the economic pressures that they currently face. [Author] This report examines the economic and political structures of the coffee supply chains in Guatemala and Honduras with respect to potential traceability systems that could satisfy the requirements of the EUDR. [Author] This publication is part of the Country Investment Highlights series under the FAO Investment Centre's Knowledge for Investment (K4I) programme. [Author]





Book Description




FAO publications catalogue 2023


Book Description

This catalogue aims to improve the dissemination and outreach of FAO’s knowledge products and overall publishing programme. By providing information on its key publications in every area of FAO’s work, and catering to a range of audiences, it thereby contributes to all organizational outcomes. From statistical analysis to specialized manuals to children’s books, FAO publications cater to a diverse range of audiences. This catalogue presents a selection of FAO’s main publications, produced in 2023 or earlier, ranging from its global reports and general interest publications to numerous specialized titles. In addition to the major themes of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, it also includes thematic sections on climate change, economic and social development, and food safety and nutrition.




The State of the World’s Forests 2024


Book Description

Innovation is essential for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals. It is also an important accelerator for the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems and for achieving global goals such as the eradication of hunger and poverty and the sustainable management and use of natural resources. But innovation does not arise in a vacuum. Among other things, it requires enabling policies; strong, transformative partnerships; investment; an inclusive culture that is open to and encouraging of new ideas; and a willingness to take calculated risks. This edition of The State of the World’s Forests (SOFO) provides highlights on the state of the world’s forests and explores the transformative power of evidence-based innovation in the forest sector, ranging from new technologies to creative and successful policies and institutional changes, to new ways of getting finance to forest owners and managers. Eighteen case studies from around the world provide a glimpse at the wide range of technological, social, policy, institutional and financial forest-sector innovations – and combinations of these – being tested and implemented in real-world conditions. SOFO 2024 identifies barriers to, and enablers of, innovation and enumerates five actions for empowering people to apply their creativity in the forest sector to solve problems and scale up positive impacts.




OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains


Book Description

OECD and FAO have developed this guidance to help enterprises observe standards of responsible business conduct and undertake due diligence along agricultural supply chains in order to ensure that their operations contribute to sustainable development.