Sebijak Institute and the European Forest Institute carried out a study on forest rehabilitation and restoration in Indonesia. This event aims at sharing the results of the study, including recommendations for government agencies, NGOs and the private sector to support Indonesia in achieving its climate targets.
https://euredd.efi.int/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/degradation-mangrove-sea-level-rise-sustainability.jpg6281200EU REDD Facilityhttps://euredd.efi.int/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EU-REDD-Facility-logo-tagline.svgEU REDD Facility2023-03-01 09:25:542023-04-06 08:55:14The dynamics of forest restoration and rehabilitation in Indonesia
The EU REDD Facility and Sebijak Institute analysed Indonesia’s legal and policy framework on forest governance, with a focus on forest conversion and restoration. They assessed the extent to which policies and regulations help reduce deforestation, accelerate restoration, and empower indigenous peoples and local communities.
En colaboración con el Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible de Colombia y ONF Andina, el Centro REDD de la UE (EU REDD Facility) facilita el diálogo sobre los retos técnicos y financieros de la forestería comunitaria en Colombia. La forestería comunitaria sostenible puede tener un papel clave en la lucha contra la deforestación.
https://euredd.efi.int/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Inventario-forestal-de-la-empresa-comunitaria-COCOMASIA-municipio-de-Vigia-del-Fuerte-Antioquia-2021-ONF-Andina.jpg6281200EU REDD Facilityhttps://euredd.efi.int/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EU-REDD-Facility-logo-tagline.svgEU REDD Facility2022-09-07 10:18:482022-09-07 10:18:49Forestería comunitaria: retos y oportunidades para el bosque colombiano
In collaboration with the Colombian Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development and ONF Andina, the EU REDD Facility facilitates dialogue on the technical and financial challenges of community forestry in Colombia. Sustainable community forestry can play a key role in fighting deforestation.
Ecuador y Colombia iniciaron con el Centro REDD de la UE un diagnóstico participativo para anticiparse a las nuevas políticas y requerimientos de los mercados importadores de cacao. El objetivo es disponer de un sistema nacional de información para el monitoreo del riesgo de deforestación de las cadenas de valor del cacao.
https://euredd.efi.int/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Drying-cocoa-beans-wooden-panels-concrete-base-Quindio-Colombia.jpg6281200EU REDD Facilityhttps://euredd.efi.int/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EU-REDD-Facility-logo-tagline.svgEU REDD Facility2022-07-15 07:35:002022-09-07 10:23:15Construcción de un diálogo nacional para el desarrollo de un sistema de trazabilidad y transparencia para el cacao libre de deforestación
In collaboration with the EU REDD Facility, Ecuador and Colombia started a participatory diagnosis to anticipate the policy developments and future requirements of cocoa-importing markets. The aim is to build a national information system to monitor deforestation of cocoa value chains.
Ecuador articula los esfuerzos nacionales para la reducción de la deforestación y degradación de los bosques a través del Plan de Acción REDD+. Comprender cómo los flujos de financiación privados impactan positiva o negativamente en los bosques es una oportunidad para incrementar las inversiones alineadas con REDD+.
https://euredd.efi.int/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Cocoa-plantation-in-Ecuador.jpg6281200EU REDD Facilityhttps://euredd.efi.int/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EU-REDD-Facility-logo-tagline.svgEU REDD Facility2022-07-14 16:05:062022-07-18 10:46:35Evaluar la alineación de las inversiones privadas con los objetivos climáticos y REDD+
Ecuador is coordinating national efforts to reduce deforestation and forest degradation through its REDD+ Action Plan. Understanding how different private finance flows positively or negatively impact forests is an opportunity for national and international actors to increase investment aligned with REDD+.
I love coffee in the morning, its taste, its aroma and the boost of energy it gives me to start the day. While enjoying a fresh brew some years ago, I began to think about what was behind my morning cup – where do the beans come from? What are the landscapes where they are produced like? And who are the people that harvest this coffee?
These are questions I continue to reflect on in my work. Over the last 10 years, I have supported efforts to reduce deforestation, much of which has been driven by the production of agricultural commodities, including coffee. In my current work, I focus on finding ways to support sustainable coffee production in Vietnam.
Agricultural landscape of Di Linh, Lam Dong Province. Source: Nguyen Que Huong Le, MDRI
The world’s largest producer of robusta coffee
In recent decades, the Central Highlands region of Vietnam has become the world’s main production area of robusta coffee. Major companies like Nestle, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Lavazza, Olam and Starbucks source from this region, bringing Vietnamese coffee to supermarket shelves and cafés around the world. Likewise, national coffee companies like VinaCafe and Trung Nguyen have arisen as a symbol of the coffee-culture in Vietnam.
The transformation of the Central Highlands into a coffee capital reminds me of Colombia, my home country. In Colombia, the famous Coffee Triangle landscape experienced a boom in the production of arabica coffee at the beginning of the 19th century owing to agricultural expansion policies. Currently, the region has become the symbol of the ‘Café de Colombia’ origin certification, which is recognised as one of the best coffees in the world.
I see many parallels between the coffee stories of the two countries, and the economic, social and environmental impacts associated with coffee cultivation. The environment in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, just like in my country, is suffering from the negative effects of unsustainable coffee production. Rapid expansion of coffee crops is driving deforestation. Coffee is also spreading to areas inappropriate for its cultivation because of unsuitable soils and limited access to water. As a result, coffee farmers deplete groundwater resources and use an excessive amount of chemicals and fertilisers.
Environmental issues are mixed up with socioeconomic challenges. Despite coffee being a valuable commodity, the region has not bore the fruits of increased coffee production and has one of the highest rural poverty rates in the country. Opportunities for minority groups to benefit from the coffee trade are limited, especially for women. Between the ’70s and the ’90s, the arrival of international companies and an accelerated immigration caused by national resettlement policies, including the establishment of new economic zones and the land-use reform or “Doi Moi”, led to the boom in the price of coffee. Since then, local communities and ethnic minorities have been largely marginalised, being unable to adapt their traditional practices to the economic development of the region, due to their limited formal education and lack of capacity to adapt to the new business requirements. This gives a bittersweet taste to coffee coming from the region.
How sustainability helps shift the paradigm
Instead of exacerbating the situation for farmers and the environment, I want my cup of coffee to contribute to addressing climate change, while leaving no one behind. But how can I sweeten up my morning cup of coffee and make it sustainable?
There is a common understanding that soil, water, forests and other natural resources are limited, and that our planet that is warming because of humans activities. Making the transition towards sustainability is therefore our duty. These efforts should involve the whole coffee supply chain – producers, traders and, of course, consumers. We all must ensure that our cup of coffee is sustainably produced. But what does than mean?
I like the definition of sustainability used by the United Nations, which includes three dimensions:
An economic dimension, where everyone in the commodity supply chain must obtain a fair wage for their work and that profits are shared equitably
A social dimension, with inclusive and ethical work, reasonable working hours, no child labour, and giving options to farmers for optimising their croplands
An environmental dimension, where the exploitation of natural resources is done sustainably, biodiversity is protected and global warming kept below 1.5 ºC
Vietnam has an ambitious agenda for transitioning towards sustainability. Among other things, the country has committed to implement an ambitious national plan to address climate change as part of its nationally determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and has committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Both incorporate sustainability as an inalienable principle and include several policies and measures in the agricultural and forest sectors aimed at curbing carbon emissions and reducing poverty.
The use of organic fertilisers, improving water irrigation techniques and protecting, conserving and managing sustainable forest lands, and providing access to education, health and decent jobs to people
Coffee certification – turning commitments to action?
International commitments are a good starting point, but how can we implement sustainability on the ground?
Despite the implementation of these schemes, certified coffee remains a fraction of overall production (around 1.75 million tons in 2020), and environmental, social and economic challenges persist in the Central Highlands. Among other things, most coffee growers cannot afford the costs of obtaining certification. The premiums offered for certified coffee do not compensate for the production costs associated with meeting the standards. In fact, the labour’s wage is usually not integrated into the certification schemes.
And finally, there are difficulties in implementing the traceability systems, which track coffee beans from the plantation to the final consumer. These systems are highly time consuming to set up. But they are also characterised by low monitoring and evaluation level of social and environmental issues, such as child labour, local communities’ inclusion and compliance with regulations on the use of pesticides and other chemicals.
Acting on sustainability at the right scale: the jurisdiction
Advertisement of crops without glyphosate, promoting crops free of chemicals as a good agricultural practice. Source: Satrio Wicaksono, EFI
Although certification initiatives have helped increase sustainable coffee production and allowed consumers to recognise sustainable products, they cannot address the deforestation that occurs at the margins or outside of certified concession areas or farms. Measuring sustainability performance at subnational jurisdiction level, rather than at farm or concession level, can help achieve impact at scale while ensuring the participation of smallholders and minorities. With this orientation, stakeholders from different sectors, positions, interests and needs, including local governments, civil society organisations and companies, can dialogue on sustainable coffee production.
With a jurisdictional approach, stakeholders can measure the sustainability in an entire administrative area (province, district or others). By working at the jurisdictional level, it is possible to safeguard forests, carbon and biodiversity across the landscape, not just at farm level. Such an approach also reduces costs for groups of farmers and for small and medium agribusinesses. It further provides a strong incentive for identifying and supporting collective, joint solutions, given that failure to reach or maintain the standard impacts all actors involved. This helps to transform entire landscapes towards sustainability.
At EFI, we are testing this new recipe to promote sustainable coffee in two districts of Vietnam’s Central Highlands. It is composed of few but powerful elements:
Social inclusion at the jurisdiction level, using a multistakeholder platform with the leadership of the local government institutions, to allow representatives of the coffee supply chain, including local communities and ethnic minorities, that are in the jurisdiction to actively participate in the sustainable production of coffee.
Environmental enhancement, which occurs when sustainable agriculture practices and land-use planning are in motion along the supply chain. These practices reduce water consumption, protect the forest and soil and increase the quality of the coffee in the jurisdiction.
Economic benefits for the people in the jurisdiction. With an improved organisation of producers, more transparent and shortened supply chains and existing certifications, the coffee produced in the jurisdiction is more competitive and can comply with the evolving international market requirements, like those in the proposed EU regulation on deforestation-free commodities.
We are developing a system to measure, track and assess the sustainability of coffee production at the jurisdictional level, beyond farms. It includes the participation of all stakeholders along the supply chain, fostering collaboration and transparency, while working to protect the forest, water and soil in the jurisdiction and improve working conditions. At the end of the day, we aim to transition the entire coffee sector towards sustainablity.
That’s the cup of coffee that I want to smell and taste.
https://euredd.efi.int/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/coffee-beans.jpg6291200Carlos Rianohttps://euredd.efi.int/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EU-REDD-Facility-logo-tagline.svgCarlos Riano2022-06-20 15:00:312022-07-19 21:45:22Reducing the bitterness of coffee from Vietnam’s Central Highlands
The EU REDD Facility works with partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America to understand the governance challenges driving deforestation and develop pragmatic approaches to advance land-use governance and sustainable development. This report presents highlights from our work in 2021.
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