Agricultural production frequently competes with forest conservation. The issue is particularly significant in developing countries where economic pressures frequently drive projects oriented at short-term economic gains at the expense of deforestation and long-term sustainable development. The CFC has been aware of this issue since its creation. In 2002-2005 a joint project with the International Timber Organization was implemented in Peru on “Sustainable use of forest and reforestation of Amazon forest by indigenous communities”. The challenge remains important today, and the development of models for sustainable business linking agriculture and forest conservation is an important priority for the CFC. With its work, the CFC has shown that there are ways to produce food, through inclusive business models, that protect forests, reduce carbon emissions, while providing benefits for community livelihoods. The following paper offers a review of business models combining agriculture with conservation objectives
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and portrays two illustrative case studies from the cocoa and coffee value chains.
Inclusive business cases linking agriculture Introduction
expansion) as well as fires, disease and severe weather events.
Deforestation is one of the major current sustainability
Indirect causes typically stem from the fact that current eco-
concerns around the world, with severe short- and long-term
nomic systems fail to reflect the true value of the environment.
impacts on both a local and global scale. Global tree cover
Many environmental costs of production and consumption are
decreased by around 10% between 2001 and 2020, contributing
carried by society as a whole instead of by (individual) p roducers
to rising CO2 emissions and biodiversity loss, and putting the
or consumers, which incentivises deforestation and other
livelihoods of local communities in and around forests at risk
harmful practices. Indirect causes are more difficult to quantify,
(Global Forest Watch, 2021). While the rate of forest loss has
but cause the most harm (Chakravarty et al., 2012).
declined since its peak in the 1980s (Ritchie, 2021), 12 million hectares of tree cover in the tropics were lost in 2020 alone,
Agricultural expansion is the most significant direct cause of
including 4.2 million hectares – the size of the Netherlands –
deforestation, accounting for 73% of all deforestation (FAO,
of previously undisturbed land (Weisse & Goldman, 2021).
2016). This is mainly fuelled by population growth and the need
Africa has the highest annual rates of net forest loss, followed
to sustain livelihoods with small-scale agriculture (FAO, 2020).
by South America; whereas Asia reported a net gain of forest
In Latin America and Southeast Asia, commodity-driven defor-
area in 2010-2020 due to afforestation efforts which compen-
estation is the leading cause of tree cover loss – specifically
sated forest loss (FAO, 2020).
beef and soy production in Latin America and palm oil production in Southeast Asia, but also wood products (e.g. paper,
Causes of deforestation can be complex and context specific.
pulp and timber) (Richtie, 2021). In Africa, by contrast, shifting
Direct causes of deforestation, which are usually relatively easy
agriculture is the prime cause of deforestation. Forests are cut
to identify and quantify, include the conversion of forest land to
and burned to make space for subsistence agriculture and to
other uses (such as mining, agriculture, infrastructure and urban
gain fuelwood and charcoal for energy (Ritchie, 2021). Yet, also
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Authors: Stefan Petrutiu, Cedric Steijn, Verena Bitzer, KIT Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam 2021
III Inclusive business cases linking agriculture and conservation | 23
Photo: Solidaridad
and conservation1
