COP22 in Marrakech saw the launch of Trase (for Transparency for Sustainable Economies), a new online platform that maps the movement of agricultural commodities from the places of production all the way to the country of consumption, identifying the key supply chain actors along the way. This series of blogs was published by the Trase team at SEI and the Global Canopy Programme (GCP) to explain and illustrate how Trase can be used to guide more sustainable sourcing, development, and forest-protection policies.
Derisking company supply chains to deliver on sustainability commitments
This blog looks at how Trase can help companies design effective strategies to eliminate deforestation and other risks in their supply chains. Taking the example of Brazilian soy from the Mapitoba region – which is experiencing some of the fastest deforestation in the country – it highlights Trase’s ability to link actors to places along the supply chain, along with its wealth of complementary decision-support capabilities.
Tracking progress on zero-deforestation commitments through radical transparency
Increasing numbers of companies and governments are pledging action to end deforestation linked to production of commodities like soy, palm oil, timber and coffee. But monitoring the positive impacts of their efforts has to date been virtually impossible. This blog shows how Trase can be used to measure how much Brazilian soy is sourced from deforestation-risk municipalities today by companies that have made sustainability commitments, and then track dynamic change over time.
Using big data to track illegality in global timber trade
The tropical timber trade is often seen as irrevocably tainted by illegal production and environmental degradation. But well-managed forests can be an important source of revenue and jobs. This blog discusses how BVRio’s Due Diligence and Risk Assessment system and Trase could work together to help companies and consumers identify “clean” and “dirty” tropical timber. (This post is a collaboration between Trase and BVRio.)
Supporting governments to help eliminate deforestation from international commodity trade
This blog outlines how governments at both ends of forest-risk commodity supply chains can use Trase to design and monitor strategies to combat deforestation and other sustainability issues. For consumer-country governments, Trase can help identify and locate overseas impacts, as well as which companies and governments to work with on solutions. Producer-country governments can use Trase to monitor policy success, identify hotspots, and build partnerships with downstream actors.
This post was contributed by European Forest Institute.
