A new paper by Trase emphasizes the need for governments, companies and civil society to combine different perspectives and metrics to avoid blind spots in deforestation monitoring.
Trase researchers from SEI, Chalmers University, University of California Santa Barbara and Université Catholique de Louvain outline a way forward to improve the effectiveness of global efforts to reduce deforestation.
For national and global policy initiatives aimed at limiting deforestation to succeed – it is critical to understand how to monitor and evaluate the links between deforestation and agricultural commodity production and consumption.
Michael Lathuillière, lead author and Senior Research Fellow at SEI and Trase
The new perspective, published by the scientific journal Conservation Letters, suggests measures to improve deforestation monitoring globally.
More than 90% of tropical deforestation, directly or indirectly, by agriculture. Beef, palm oil and soy are linked to most of the forest-to-agriculture conversion. This process has far-reaching impacts on the climate, biodiversity and local livelihoods.
Many of these commodities are consumed domestically in producer countries or exported to places where deforestation from agricultural expansion has largely halted. In this way, importing countries can effectively outsource their environmental impact.
In response, various public and private initiatives have emerged, such as the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use (COP26, 2021); deforestation-free supply chain strategies in France (2018) and Germany (2010); and legislative proposals in the EU (2023), UK (2022) and US (2021).
Yet despite such efforts, zero-deforestation commitments have had limited global impact. So, what is the way forward?
The availability of data linking agricultural commodity production and supply chains to deforestation has improved over the years. However, most policies only focus on one aspect: deforestation within territorial boundaries or deforestation linked to specific supply chains.
As a result, each regulation, enforcement action and monitoring effort is limited to a partial view of what is happening on the ground.
Options for monitoring deforestation: commodity (A) and deforestation (B) focuses, combined with territorial (C) and supply chain (D) scopes, can guide the use and development of deforestation metrics – including those related to forest degradation.
Graphic:Lathuillière et al (2025), Trase, SEI / Conservation Letters.
The authors argue that current metrics linking deforestation and forest degradation to commodity production typically address two distinct questions:
Most metrics answer one question or the other – rarely both. Classifying these metrics by their commodity or deforestation focus, and by territorial or supply chain scope, helps highlight blind spots.
To support more consistent communication and use of these metrics, the paper outlines terminology that can help build common ground for monitoring efforts.
The authors make two key recommendations:
Lathuillière, M. J., Gardner, T. A., Persson, M. U., Ribeiro, V., Heilmayr, R., Pendrill, F., & Meyfroidt. P. (2025). Complementary perspectives and metrics are essential to end deforestation. Conservation Letters, 18:e13145. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.13145
Trase is a data-driven transparency initiative that maps the international trade and financing of agricultural commodities, providing tools that enable companies, financial institutions and governments to address tropical deforestation. This not-for-profit partnership was founded in 2015 by SEI and Global Canopy.
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