A vast majority of tropical deforestation is driven directly or indirectly by agriculture. In this article, the authors propose a unified framework for classifying deforestation metrics based on their commodity focus or direct impact on deforestation, aiming to improve clarity and consistency in sustainability reporting.
Aerial view of palm oil plantation.
Recent public and private policies seek to end deforestation by regulating the production and trade of forest-risk commodities. The design, implementation, and evaluation of these policies rely on metrics that are typically bounded in scope by either territories or supply chains, and therefore only provide a partial account of deforestation on the ground.
The authors argue that metrics linking deforestation and forest degradation to commodity production need to consider two distinct questions: (1) How much of today’s commodity production is associated with past deforestation? (2) To what extent is today’s deforestation driven by the prospects of producing a specific commodity in the future?
In this paper, they describe how metrics can respond to these questions by being classified according to their commodity or deforestation focus. They propose common terminology to facilitate the communication and use of these perspectives and metrics. The authors then make the case for combining perspectives through the monitoring and reporting of multiple metrics by governments, companies, and non-governmental organizations alike to both assess progress and drive more coordinated action to reduce deforestation.
Senior Research Fellow and Team Leader for Trase Research and Development
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