<p>Join our webinar for an overview of the satellite imagery and resources available on GFW. We will be joined by partners from KSAT and Planet to share how this satellite imagery can help users investigate what’s happening in the world’s forests. <a href="https://wri.zoom.us/webinar/register/7617086143771/WN_8_Q9dGGwQT2mqRpd4LgRZA" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Register here!</a></p>


Investigating Deforestation with Satellite Imagery

Data and Research

GFW is first and foremost a data-driven platform. Read the latest forest research and analysis.

Data and Research | Global Forest Watch Blog

agriculture

agriculture | Global Forest Watch Blog

commodities

commodities | Global Forest Watch Blog

deforestation

deforestation | Global Forest Watch Blog

Farming

Farming | Global Forest Watch Blog

mining

mining | Global Forest Watch Blog

restoration

restoration | Global Forest Watch Blog

David Gibbs

Nancy Harris

Katie Reytar

<p>In 2014, the future of forests looked bright. Governments, companies, non-governmental organizations and Indigenous groups committed to ten ambitious goals under the <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York Declaration on Forests</a> (NYDF). This major international declaration aims to protect forests, driven by the understanding that halting deforestation is essential to mitigating climate change and maintaining other benefits of forests. These goals include <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals#goal-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">halving deforestation</a> by 2020 and stopping it by 2030, while restoring an area of degraded land larger than the size of India.</p>



<p><a href="http://www.forestdeclaration.org/goals/goal-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">This year’s assessment</a> of progress on the NYDF firmly concludes that deforestation is not slowing enough to achieve this goal. In fact, by some measures, we are further from stopping deforestation now than we were six years ago. On top of that, limited data is making it difficult to fully assess progress on forest restoration. Although this reality presents a steep uphill battle, rapidly accelerating actions to end deforestation and restore forests offer hope that the 2030 goals can still be achieved. &nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>We’re headed in the wrong direction to end deforestation</strong></h3>



<p>Two independent datasets show that the world is not on track to halt deforestation. <a href="https://gfw.global/2I1sx83" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Forest Watch</a> data — created using a globally standardized remote sensing methodology — indicates that annual tropical <a href="https://gfw.global/2UGlWD1/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">primary forest</a> loss has actually increased by 41% since the NYDF was signed, and annual global deforestation has increased between 55% and 64%. The United Nations <a href="http://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Forest Resources Assessment 2020</a> also indicates insufficient progress toward the NYDF goals. This aggregation of country-reported statistics on forest change shows a slight drop in deforestation since 2000, but nowhere near the amount required to achieve the 2020 or 2030 targets. &nbsp;</p>



<p>Despite the differences between the two datasets, they share a key message: the world failed to halve deforestation by 2020 and, as a result, is not on a trajectory to stop it by 2030.</p>



<p>Each year, the world loses about <a href="http://www.forestdeclaration.org/goals/goal-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10 million hectares</a> (24.7 million acres) of forest area — equivalent to 27 soccer fields per minute. Every year that deforestation is not reduced as quickly as possible will require even larger reductions in the following years to achieve our goal. In the meantime, deforestation will continue to cause emissions, the loss of forest benefits and the curtailment of Indigenous rights. If the past 19 years are any indication, the necessary decrease in forest loss seems unlikely in the next decade. Although unlikely, the world can’t afford to not attempt reaching this goal.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Why is progress so slow?</strong></h3>



<p>The issue largely arises from the disparity between the commitments made and  the actions taken to meet them. Goals two through four of the NYDF track specific contributing factors to global deforestation, while goal five outlines restoration targets. In each of these categories, actions fell short of what is needed.</p>



<p><a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals/goal-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Goal 2</em></a><em>: Ending Deforestation from Agricultural Commodities</em></p>



<div class="imageleft"><img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="fire clearing cattle pasture in the Gran Chaco, Paraguay" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ChacoParaguay.jpg" width="100%">Fires used to clear land for pasture in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco region can be seen from an airplane. Photo by Jordi Ruiz Cirera/WRI.</div>



<p>Forest clearing <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals#goal-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;for new agricultural land</a> is the largest cause of deforestation. However, removing deforestation from supply chains is happening unevenly. Even where commitments exist, implementation and consequences are hard to trace through complex supply chains. Last year, nearly one-third of 350 major companies with supply chains at risk of causing deforestation did not report anything about their activities to stop deforestation. Some sectors are progressing faster than others — <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals/goal-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">81%</a> of Indonesian palm oil exports in 2018 came from companies with no-deforestation pledges, while just 32% of Brazilian beef exports in 2017 were produced under a commitment.</p>



<p><a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/images/uploads/resource/2020NYDFReport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Goal 3</em></a><em>: Reducing Deforestation from Other Sectors</em></p>



<p>Although <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals#goal-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mining and infrastructure</a> like roads and dams are not <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6407/1108/tab-figures-data" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">globally major</a> causes of deforestation, they can heavily impact forests at local scales. Companies in these sectors generally provide even less information on what they are doing to prevent deforestation than the agricultural sector does. For example, a recent World Bank <a href="https://www.profor.info/content/forest-smart-mining-identifying-factors-associated-impacts-large-scale-mining-forests" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> could not identify any mining operations that comprehensively addressed and mitigated their environmental risks, and financial institutions are generally not providing data on the extent to which their mining and infrastructure investments align with their sustainability principles. The forest impacts of these sectors are expected to intensify as the demand for mined materials increases, and as infrastructure projects bring farmers, loggers and poachers to new forest frontiers. &nbsp;</p>



<p><a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/images/uploads/resource/2020NYDFReport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Goal 4</em></a><em>: Support Alternatives for Basic Needs</em></p>



<p>Efforts are increasing to find ways to meet the <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals#goal-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">basic needs</a> of communities, such as fuelwood and food, without further deforestation. However, these efforts aren’t happening at the necessary scale and are generally not addressing the root causes of poverty, limiting their effectiveness. For example, programs that seek to take pressure off forests by improving the agricultural productivity of smallholders’ existing farms &nbsp;often fail to invest in underlying conditions to secure farmer livelihoods such as land tenure, public services and market access, alongside improvements in governance to ensure forest protection measures are respected.&nbsp; &nbsp;But some governments, <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/07/malawi-turns-corner-solving-its-deforestation-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">like Malawi</a>’s, have begun doing that hard work and helping communities manage their forests sustainably while planting fast-growing trees to meet immediate demand for firewood.</p>



<p><a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals/goal-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Goal 5</em></a><em>: Restore Forests</em></p>



<div class="imageright"><img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="guatemala restoration project sustainable cocoa" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/guatemala.png" width="100%">In Guatemala, impact investor 12Tree is growing sustainable cocoa while protecting natural forests. Courtesy of 12Tree. </div>



<p>For restoration, the shortcomings can be linked to a lack of investment at scale and a dearth of globally consistent data. Restoring 350 million hectares will require <a href="https://www.wri.org/publication/roots-of-prosperity" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">billions of dollars</a>. Funders have committed $4 billion through the <a href="http://www.afr100.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AFR100</a> Initiative in Africa and <a href="http://www.initiative20x20.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Initiative 20×20</a> in Latin America. Even that is not enough to reach the NYDF’s goal, though there are <a href="https://initiative20x20.org/restoration-projects" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dozens</a> of <a href="https://afr100.org/content/7-ways-african-leaders-are-restoring-their-landscapes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">successful projects</a> in each region. The Great Green Wall in Africa’s Sahel, for example, faces a <a href="https://www.unccd.int/publications/great-green-wall-implementation-status-and-way-ahead-2030" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$4.3 billion yearly funding gap</a> through 2030. There is also no systematic and independent way to track where or how much of that funding has reached projects, though reports indicate that governments, private investors and entrepreneurs are starting to incentivize, finance and scale up their work.</p>



<p>This underscores the importance of developing a global method that consistently tracks where those trees are growing, and that complements existing tree cover loss data. That approach will need to work inside the forest and <em>outside</em> it on farms and pasture, where restoration has the <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/10/small-amazonian-community-agroforestry-takes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">most benefits for people</a>. Regional pilots of this method in Central America and <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/10/deforestation-threatens-mekong-new-trees-are-growing-surprising-places" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Southeast Asia</a>, conducted as part of the 2019 and 2020 NYDF Progress Assessments, are promising. But understanding tree cover gain and loss together – and assessing the overall health of forests – will require <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/07/trillion-trees-tracking-challenges" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">improved data and techniques</a>.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Transforming commitments into real action</strong></h3>



<p>While the latest NYDF report is stark in its message, new initiatives that can turn the tide are gaining momentum. The growth of zero-deforestation commitments shows that motivation to halt deforestation still exists across governments, companies, financial institutions and civil society. And innovative restoration programs like the more than <a href="https://initiative20x20.org/restoration-projects" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">50 private-sector projects</a> aligned with Initiative 20×20 and the growing <a href="https://www.wri.org/our-work/project/land-accelerator" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Land Accelerator network</a>, whose entrepreneurs are helping 120,000 farmers produce more sustainably, are boosting funding for forest protection and restoration. </p>



<p>Moving forward will require hard work, improving transparency, employing environmental safeguards, reducing consumption of high-deforestation goods and increasing ambition and financing from companies and governments alike. Growing investments and commitments to protecting and restoring forests must pair with equivalent action. Failing to do so will seal the fate of forests for years to come.</p>



<style type="text/css"></style>

Progress Must Speed Up to Protect and Restore Forests by 2030

<p>In 2014, the future of forests looked bright. Governments, companies, non-governmental organizations and Indigenous groups committed to ten ambitious goals under the <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York Declaration on Forests</a> (NYDF). This major international declaration aims to protect forests, driven by the understanding that halting deforestation is essential to mitigating climate change and maintaining other benefits of forests. These goals include <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals#goal-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">halving deforestation</a> by 2020 and stopping it by 2030, while restoring an area of degraded land larger than the size of India.</p>



<p><a href="http://www.forestdeclaration.org/goals/goal-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">This year’s assessment</a> of progress on the NYDF firmly concludes that deforestation is not slowing enough to achieve this goal. In fact, by some measures, we are further from stopping deforestation now than we were six years ago. On top of that, limited data is making it difficult to fully assess progress on forest restoration. Although this reality presents a steep uphill battle, rapidly accelerating actions to end deforestation and restore forests offer hope that the 2030 goals can still be achieved. &nbsp;</p>



<h3><strong>We’re headed in the wrong direction to end deforestation</strong></h3>



<p>Two independent datasets show that the world is not on track to halt deforestation. <a href="https://gfw.global/2I1sx83" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Forest Watch</a> data — created using a globally standardized remote sensing methodology — indicates that annual tropical <a href="https://gfw.global/2UGlWD1/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">primary forest</a> loss has actually increased by 41% since the NYDF was signed, and annual global deforestation has increased between 55% and 64%. The United Nations <a href="http://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/en/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Forest Resources Assessment 2020</a> also indicates insufficient progress toward the NYDF goals. This aggregation of country-reported statistics on forest change shows a slight drop in deforestation since 2000, but nowhere near the amount required to achieve the 2020 or 2030 targets. &nbsp;</p>



<p>Despite the differences between the two datasets, they share a key message: the world failed to halve deforestation by 2020 and, as a result, is not on a trajectory to stop it by 2030.</p>



<p>Each year, the world loses about <a href="http://www.forestdeclaration.org/goals/goal-1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10 million hectares</a> (24.7 million acres) of forest area — equivalent to 27 soccer fields per minute. Every year that deforestation is not reduced as quickly as possible will require even larger reductions in the following years to achieve our goal. In the meantime, deforestation will continue to cause emissions, the loss of forest benefits and the curtailment of Indigenous rights. If the past 19 years are any indication, the necessary decrease in forest loss seems unlikely in the next decade. Although unlikely, the world can’t afford to not attempt reaching this goal.</p>



<h3><strong>Why is progress so slow?</strong></h3>



<p>The issue largely arises from the disparity between the commitments made and  the actions taken to meet them. Goals two through four of the NYDF track specific contributing factors to global deforestation, while goal five outlines restoration targets. In each of these categories, actions fell short of what is needed.</p>



<p><a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals/goal-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Goal 2</em></a><em>: Ending Deforestation from Agricultural Commodities</em></p>



<div class="imageleft"><img class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="fire clearing cattle pasture in the Gran Chaco, Paraguay" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ChacoParaguay.jpg" width="100%">Fires used to clear land for pasture in Paraguay’s Gran Chaco region can be seen from an airplane. Photo by Jordi Ruiz Cirera/WRI.</div>



<p>Forest clearing <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals#goal-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;for new agricultural land</a> is the largest cause of deforestation. However, removing deforestation from supply chains is happening unevenly. Even where commitments exist, implementation and consequences are hard to trace through complex supply chains. Last year, nearly one-third of 350 major companies with supply chains at risk of causing deforestation did not report anything about their activities to stop deforestation. Some sectors are progressing faster than others — <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals/goal-2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">81%</a> of Indonesian palm oil exports in 2018 came from companies with no-deforestation pledges, while just 32% of Brazilian beef exports in 2017 were produced under a commitment.</p>



<p><a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/images/uploads/resource/2020NYDFReport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Goal 3</em></a><em>: Reducing Deforestation from Other Sectors</em></p>



<p>Although <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals#goal-3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mining and infrastructure</a> like roads and dams are not <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6407/1108/tab-figures-data" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">globally major</a> causes of deforestation, they can heavily impact forests at local scales. Companies in these sectors generally provide even less information on what they are doing to prevent deforestation than the agricultural sector does. For example, a recent World Bank <a href="https://www.profor.info/content/forest-smart-mining-identifying-factors-associated-impacts-large-scale-mining-forests" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> could not identify any mining operations that comprehensively addressed and mitigated their environmental risks, and financial institutions are generally not providing data on the extent to which their mining and infrastructure investments align with their sustainability principles. The forest impacts of these sectors are expected to intensify as the demand for mined materials increases, and as infrastructure projects bring farmers, loggers and poachers to new forest frontiers. &nbsp;</p>



<p><a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/images/uploads/resource/2020NYDFReport.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Goal 4</em></a><em>: Support Alternatives for Basic Needs</em></p>



<p>Efforts are increasing to find ways to meet the <a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals#goal-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">basic needs</a> of communities, such as fuelwood and food, without further deforestation. However, these efforts aren’t happening at the necessary scale and are generally not addressing the root causes of poverty, limiting their effectiveness. For example, programs that seek to take pressure off forests by improving the agricultural productivity of smallholders’ existing farms &nbsp;often fail to invest in underlying conditions to secure farmer livelihoods such as land tenure, public services and market access, alongside improvements in governance to ensure forest protection measures are respected.&nbsp; &nbsp;But some governments, <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/07/malawi-turns-corner-solving-its-deforestation-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">like Malawi</a>’s, have begun doing that hard work and helping communities manage their forests sustainably while planting fast-growing trees to meet immediate demand for firewood.</p>



<p><a href="https://forestdeclaration.org/goals/goal-5" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Goal 5</em></a><em>: Restore Forests</em></p>



<div class="imageright"><img class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="guatemala restoration project sustainable cocoa" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/guatemala.png" width="100%">In Guatemala, impact investor 12Tree is growing sustainable cocoa while protecting natural forests. Courtesy of 12Tree. </div>



<p>For restoration, the shortcomings can be linked to a lack of investment at scale and a dearth of globally consistent data. Restoring 350 million hectares will require <a href="https://www.wri.org/publication/roots-of-prosperity" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">billions of dollars</a>. Funders have committed $4 billion through the <a href="http://www.afr100.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AFR100</a> Initiative in Africa and <a href="http://www.initiative20x20.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Initiative 20x20</a> in Latin America. Even that is not enough to reach the NYDF’s goal, though there are <a href="https://initiative20x20.org/restoration-projects" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dozens</a> of <a href="https://afr100.org/content/7-ways-african-leaders-are-restoring-their-landscapes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">successful projects</a> in each region. The Great Green Wall in Africa’s Sahel, for example, faces a <a href="https://www.unccd.int/publications/great-green-wall-implementation-status-and-way-ahead-2030" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$4.3 billion yearly funding gap</a> through 2030. There is also no systematic and independent way to track where or how much of that funding has reached projects, though reports indicate that governments, private investors and entrepreneurs are starting to incentivize, finance and scale up their work.</p>



<p>This underscores the importance of developing a global method that consistently tracks where those trees are growing, and that complements existing tree cover loss data. That approach will need to work inside the forest and <em>outside</em> it on farms and pasture, where restoration has the <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/10/small-amazonian-community-agroforestry-takes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">most benefits for people</a>. Regional pilots of this method in Central America and <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/10/deforestation-threatens-mekong-new-trees-are-growing-surprising-places" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Southeast Asia</a>, conducted as part of the 2019 and 2020 NYDF Progress Assessments, are promising. But understanding tree cover gain and loss together – and assessing the overall health of forests – will require <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/07/trillion-trees-tracking-challenges" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">improved data and techniques</a>.</p>



<h3><strong>Transforming commitments into real action</strong></h3>



<p>While the latest NYDF report is stark in its message, new initiatives that can turn the tide are gaining momentum. The growth of zero-deforestation commitments shows that motivation to halt deforestation still exists across governments, companies, financial institutions and civil society. And innovative restoration programs like the more than <a href="https://initiative20x20.org/restoration-projects" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">50 private-sector projects</a> aligned with Initiative 20x20 and the growing <a href="https://www.wri.org/our-work/project/land-accelerator" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Land Accelerator network</a>, whose entrepreneurs are helping 120,000 farmers produce more sustainably, are boosting funding for forest protection and restoration. </p>



<p>Moving forward will require hard work, improving transparency, employing environmental safeguards, reducing consumption of high-deforestation goods and increasing ambition and financing from companies and governments alike. Growing investments and commitments to protecting and restoring forests must pair with equivalent action. Failing to do so will seal the fate of forests for years to come.</p>

Progress on stopping deforestation and restoring forests must dramatically speed up in order to meet the 2030 NYDF goals.

We're Not Going to Meet NYDF Goals by 2030 | Global Forest Watch Blog

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Commodities

Read about the role forests play in the production of commodities around the world.

Commodities | Global Forest Watch Blog

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Ag-Tech | Global Forest Watch Blog

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crops | Global Forest Watch Blog

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Data Revolution | Global Forest Watch Blog

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Efficiency | Global Forest Watch Blog

land use

land use | Global Forest Watch Blog

Luiz Amaral

<p>Big data surrounds us. Every minute, our&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/10/business/location-data-privacy-apps.html" target="_blank">smartphones collect billions of data points</a>&nbsp;on our location, search histories and habits. Data has become one of the world’s most valuable commodities for companies. The $<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/king-candy-crush-activision-acquisition" target="_blank">6-billion-dollar sale of the game Candy Crush</a>&nbsp;was not so pricey because of the app itself, but because of the massive amounts of user data that came with it. Data has surpassed oil as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2017/05/06/the-worlds-most-valuable-resource-is-no-longer-oil-but-data" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">world’s most valuable resource</a>.</p>



<p>But this data revolution hasn’t reached every economic sector yet. The agriculture sector in developing countries has been largely passed over. Not only is this a huge missed opportunity for big data companies, it’s a significant obstacle in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/12/how-sustainably-feed-10-billion-people-2050-21-charts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">path towards sustainable food</a>.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Agricultural data is key for sustainability</strong></h3>



<p>The release of WRI’s newest&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.wri.org/publication/creating-sustainable-food-future" target="_blank">World Resources Report</a>&nbsp;highlights the urgency of creating a sustainable food future. The global population is expected to surpass 9 billion by the year 2050, and current growth in crop yields will be insufficient to feed everyone. If we are to feed the world in years to come—and do it without destroying the planet—we will need a paradigm shift in food production.</p>



<p>Big data could be crucial in making that shift happen. A study from 2016 estimates that there are more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15002703" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">570 million farms in the world</a>, and almost 87 percent of all the world’s agricultural land is held by small-scale or family farmers. By collecting information from farmers on crop inputs and yields, development organizations and others could make better recommendations on where and when to plant, how much of what kind of fertilizer to use, and the most effective ways to work the soil to increase yields without degrading the land. Without the insights farm-level data brings, the path towards sustainability is uncertain.</p>



<p>Farm data would provide immense benefits for agricultural-tech companies and farmers. Companies could use data on fertilizer usage, irrigation and seed type to improve the ways and regions where they market agricultural products, and better tailor their services to the individual needs of farmers. Farmers would benefit from the increased efficiency that data-based insights could provide. With more access to data would come the ability to improve production. It is estimated that a 1 percent increase in the number of internet users globally could increase cereal production enough&nbsp;<a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.teses.usp.br/&strip=1&vwsrc=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">to feed 131 million more people</a>.</p>



<p>There is already considerable interest in data from the agribusiness industry.&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2013/10/02/monsanto-buys-climate-corp-for-930-million/" target="_blank">Monsanto bought Climate Corp</a>, a company using big data for weather services, for almost $1 billion in 2013, the biggest agriculture-technology deal in history. Ag-tech start-ups received more than $<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/agriculture-tech-investment/global-ag-tech-startup-investments-rise-29-percent-in-2017-study-idUSL2N1QO1PW" target="_blank">10 billion dollars in investments in 2017</a>. These investments, however, have been concentrated in wealthier countries where the immediate prospect for revenue is higher. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, “<a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i7658e.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">the world’s 500 million smallholder farmers risk being left behind in structural and rural transformations</a>.” There are promising new markets for farming technology in the developing world, which hold lots of underproductive agricultural land and the biggest potential for yield increases that could close the world’s sustainable food gap.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Getting data to benefit all</h3>



<p>It
would be all-too-easy for companies to take advantage of farmer data, mining
for gold without offering anything in return. To prevent this, farmers need to
be able to take ownership of their information.</p>



<p>Agricultural
cooperatives are well-positioned to bridge the gap between big data companies
and farmers. The sheer number of farms in the world means that getting access
to each individual farm— some in hard to reach, rural areas— would be a
herculean effort. While tech companies may have the capacity to gather and
process large volumes of data, co-ops have highly coveted access to farmers.</p>



<div class="imagecenter"><img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="Farmer in Madagascar" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/oxen.jpg" width="100%">Farmer in Madagascar. Photo by Michele Molinari/Wikimedia Commons </div>



<p>Co-ops
also have the potential to offer value back to the farmers and make collecting
and sharing their data worthwhile. Small farm data only acquires commercial
value if it reaches a significant scale. While an individual farm owner
wouldn’t be able to charge for the use of their data, an organized cooperative
would have the power of many behind it. Beyond simply improving farm
efficiency, selling the farm data itself could become a source of revenue for
farmers in the new data economy.</p>



<p>There
are already several initiatives working towards an agricultural data
cooperative model, as well as “tech-for-development” startups
developing tools to collect data like location, crop type and yield estimate.
That information alone has great potential; however, these initiatives are
still limited by their scope and permeation at a global scale. Internal
research by WRI evaluated more than a dozen farmer-targeted apps focused on
collecting information on the ground — such as location, yields and revenues
— and found that their utility varies depending on user needs and local
context. This means expanding any one solution to cover multiple issues across
different commodities and regions will be difficult. &nbsp;A global-scale
solution that benefits both farmers and big data will need to consider a
variety of factors, including lack of communications infrastructure in rural
areas, technological literacy of the target audience and crop-specific
idiosyncrasies. Moreover, Initiatives need the right partners and a clear
business case to reach global scalability.</p>



<p>Bringing
together big data companies, global agri-businesses, local civil society
organizations, global think tanks and farmer groups could generate win-win
opportunities for all parties, while also tackling the global food challenge
and bringing development to rural communities. Although many nascent efforts
are underway, global-scale applicability is essential to bring the full
benefits of the data revolution to agriculture. &nbsp;The fate of our
sustainable food future depends on it.</p>



<hr> 

<div class="attribute" style="”padding-bottom:" 10px;”=""> 
BANNER PHOTO: Farmer harvests wheat in Mojo, Ethiopia. Photo by  <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/44760652@N05/28584027037/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Peter Lowe/CIMMYT</a>. 
<p></p>

Originally appeared on <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/03/data-revolution-hasnt-yet-hit-agriculture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WRI Insights</a>. 
<p></p>
EDITOR’S NOTE, 3/5/19: A previous version of this blog post incorrectly stated that annual yields of some staple crops are decreasing. Yields are actually increasing, but annual yield growth appears to be decreasing for some crops. We have corrected the post, and we regret the error.
</div> 

 

<hr>



<style type="text/css"></style>

The Data Revolution Hasn’t Yet Hit Agriculture

<p>Big data surrounds us. Every minute, our&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/10/business/location-data-privacy-apps.html" target="_blank">smartphones collect billions of data points</a>&nbsp;on our location, search histories and habits. Data has become one of the world's most valuable commodities for companies. The $<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/king-candy-crush-activision-acquisition" target="_blank">6-billion-dollar sale of the game Candy Crush</a>&nbsp;was not so pricey because of the app itself, but because of the massive amounts of user data that came with it. Data has surpassed oil as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2017/05/06/the-worlds-most-valuable-resource-is-no-longer-oil-but-data" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">world's most valuable resource</a>.</p>



<p>But this data revolution hasn't reached every economic sector yet. The agriculture sector in developing countries has been largely passed over. Not only is this a huge missed opportunity for big data companies, it's a significant obstacle in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2018/12/how-sustainably-feed-10-billion-people-2050-21-charts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">path towards sustainable food</a>.</p>



<h3><strong>Agricultural data is key for sustainability</strong></h3>



<p>The release of WRI's newest&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.wri.org/publication/creating-sustainable-food-future" target="_blank">World Resources Report</a>&nbsp;highlights the urgency of creating a sustainable food future. The global population is expected to surpass 9 billion by the year 2050, and current growth in crop yields will be insufficient to feed everyone. If we are to feed the world in years to come---and do it without destroying the planet---we will need a paradigm shift in food production.</p>



<p>Big data could be crucial in making that shift happen. A study from 2016 estimates that there are more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15002703" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">570 million farms in the world</a>, and almost 87 percent of all the world's agricultural land is held by small-scale or family farmers. By collecting information from farmers on crop inputs and yields, development organizations and others could make better recommendations on where and when to plant, how much of what kind of fertilizer to use, and the most effective ways to work the soil to increase yields without degrading the land. Without the insights farm-level data brings, the path towards sustainability is uncertain.</p>



<p>Farm data would provide immense benefits for agricultural-tech companies and farmers. Companies could use data on fertilizer usage, irrigation and seed type to improve the ways and regions where they market agricultural products, and better tailor their services to the individual needs of farmers. Farmers would benefit from the increased efficiency that data-based insights could provide. With more access to data would come the ability to improve production. It is estimated that a 1 percent increase in the number of internet users globally could increase cereal production enough&nbsp;<a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.teses.usp.br/&amp;strip=1&amp;vwsrc=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">to feed 131 million more people</a>.</p>



<p>There is already considerable interest in data from the agribusiness industry.&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2013/10/02/monsanto-buys-climate-corp-for-930-million/" target="_blank">Monsanto bought Climate Corp</a>, a company using big data for weather services, for almost $1 billion in 2013, the biggest agriculture-technology deal in history. Ag-tech start-ups received more than $<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/agriculture-tech-investment/global-ag-tech-startup-investments-rise-29-percent-in-2017-study-idUSL2N1QO1PW" target="_blank">10 billion dollars in investments in 2017</a>. These investments, however, have been concentrated in wealthier countries where the immediate prospect for revenue is higher. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, "<a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i7658e.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">the world's 500 million smallholder farmers risk being left behind in structural and rural transformations</a>." There are promising new markets for farming technology in the developing world, which hold lots of underproductive agricultural land and the biggest potential for yield increases that could close the world's sustainable food gap.</p>



<h3>Getting data to benefit all</h3>



<p>It
would be all-too-easy for companies to take advantage of farmer data, mining
for gold without offering anything in return. To prevent this, farmers need to
be able to take ownership of their information.</p>



<p>Agricultural
cooperatives are well-positioned to bridge the gap between big data companies
and farmers. The sheer number of farms in the world means that getting access
to each individual farm--- some in hard to reach, rural areas--- would be a
herculean effort. While tech companies may have the capacity to gather and
process large volumes of data, co-ops have highly coveted access to farmers.</p>



<div class="imagecenter"><img class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="Farmer in Madagascar" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/oxen.jpg" width="100%">Farmer in Madagascar. Photo by Michele Molinari/Wikimedia Commons </div>



<p>Co-ops
also have the potential to offer value back to the farmers and make collecting
and sharing their data worthwhile. Small farm data only acquires commercial
value if it reaches a significant scale. While an individual farm owner
wouldn't be able to charge for the use of their data, an organized cooperative
would have the power of many behind it. Beyond simply improving farm
efficiency, selling the farm data itself could become a source of revenue for
farmers in the new data economy.</p>



<p>There
are already several initiatives working towards an agricultural data
cooperative model, as well as "tech-for-development" startups
developing tools to collect data like location, crop type and yield estimate.
That information alone has great potential; however, these initiatives are
still limited by their scope and permeation at a global scale. Internal
research by WRI evaluated more than a dozen farmer-targeted apps focused on
collecting information on the ground -- such as location, yields and revenues
-- and found that their utility varies depending on user needs and local
context. This means expanding any one solution to cover multiple issues across
different commodities and regions will be difficult. &nbsp;A global-scale
solution that benefits both farmers and big data will need to consider a
variety of factors, including lack of communications infrastructure in rural
areas, technological literacy of the target audience and crop-specific
idiosyncrasies. Moreover, Initiatives need the right partners and a clear
business case to reach global scalability.</p>



<p>Bringing
together big data companies, global agri-businesses, local civil society
organizations, global think tanks and farmer groups could generate win-win
opportunities for all parties, while also tackling the global food challenge
and bringing development to rural communities. Although many nascent efforts
are underway, global-scale applicability is essential to bring the full
benefits of the data revolution to agriculture. &nbsp;The fate of our
sustainable food future depends on it.</p>



<hr> 

<div class="attribute" style="”padding-bottom:" 10px;”=""> 
BANNER PHOTO: Farmer harvests wheat in Mojo, Ethiopia. Photo by  <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/44760652@N05/28584027037/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Peter Lowe/CIMMYT</a>. 
<p></p>

Originally appeared on <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/03/data-revolution-hasnt-yet-hit-agriculture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WRI Insights</a>. 
<p></p>
EDITOR'S NOTE, 3/5/19: A previous version of this blog post incorrectly stated that annual yields of some staple crops are decreasing. Yields are actually increasing, but annual yield growth appears to be decreasing for some crops. We have corrected the post, and we regret the error.
</div> 

 

<hr>

The Data Revolution Hasn't Yet Hit Agriculture

Big data surrounds us. Every minute, our&nbsp;smartphones collect billions of data points&nbsp;on our location, search histories and habits. Data has

The Data Revolution Hasn't Yet Hit Agriculture | Commodities | Global Forest Watch Blog

The Data Revolution Hasn&#8217;t Yet Hit Agriculture

Cargill

Cargill | Global Forest Watch Blog

CFI | Global Forest Watch Blog

Chocolate

Chocolate | Global Forest Watch Blog

Cocoa

Cocoa | Global Forest Watch Blog

Forest Atlas

Forest Atlas | Global Forest Watch Blog

GFW Pro

GFW Pro | Global Forest Watch Blog

Mondelez

Mondelez | Global Forest Watch Blog

monitoring

monitoring | Global Forest Watch Blog

smallholder

smallholder | Global Forest Watch Blog

Caroline Winchester

<p>Ever wonder where the chocolate in your&nbsp;candy bar&nbsp;came from? With 70 percent of the world’s cocoa produced by Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, chances are your midnight&nbsp;snack started&nbsp;out&nbsp;as a seed pod&nbsp;growing on a cocoa farm in West Africa.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<div class="imageright"><img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="Cocoa pod" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_5732.jpg" width="100%">Chocolate is made by fermenting and drying the seeds of the cocoa pod. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI. </div>



<p>West Africa is also home to&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://bit.ly/2T5ifsf" target="_blank">Upper Guinean rainforest</a>, and like many other&nbsp;tropical&nbsp;areas&nbsp;where&nbsp;commodities&nbsp;compete with the environment for land,&nbsp;these forests have been threatened by the growth of the cocoa industry.&nbsp;Between 1988 and 2007 it is estimated that&nbsp;nearly&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/317701513577699790/Forest-and-climate-smart-cocoa-in-C%C3%B4te-D-Ivoire-and-Ghana-aligning-stakeholders-to-support-smallholders-in-deforestation-free-cocoa" target="_blank">2.3 million hectares</a>&nbsp;of the Upper Guinean rainforest were cleared to make way for&nbsp;cocoa farms.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;in 2017 the cocoa&nbsp;sector&nbsp;followed the&nbsp;example&nbsp;of commodities such as palm oil and soy in&nbsp;committing&nbsp;to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains&nbsp;through the launch of the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/initiative/cocoa-and-forests/" target="_blank">Cocoa & Forests Initiative</a>&nbsp;(CFI).</p>



<p>The&nbsp;CFI&nbsp;is&nbsp;led by&nbsp;the World Cocoa Foundation,&nbsp;IDH&nbsp;the Sustainable Trade Initiative&nbsp;and The Prince&nbsp;of Wales’&nbsp;International Sustainability Unit.&nbsp;This initiative&nbsp;covers an estimated 80&nbsp;percent&nbsp;of global cocoa usage and represents&nbsp;a&nbsp;pledge by&nbsp;both&nbsp;Ghana and&nbsp;Côte d’Ivoire&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;key cocoa and chocolate companies,&nbsp;to end deforestation and forest degradation&nbsp;from&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;on any forested&nbsp;land. Specific&nbsp;areas to be protected, including&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks, are laid&nbsp;out&nbsp;within&nbsp;the&nbsp;Frameworks&nbsp;for Action for&nbsp;both countries.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>While&nbsp;this&nbsp;commitment is an impressive&nbsp;first step, it&nbsp;is only half the battle. In order to manage&nbsp;deforestation, CFI signatories&nbsp;must be able to&nbsp;detect where cocoa farms are expanding into&nbsp;forested&nbsp;lands&nbsp;so they can take appropriate mitigation&nbsp;measures.&nbsp;As part of the agreement,&nbsp;signatories committed to transparent satellite-based monitoring&nbsp;systems&nbsp;and publicly&nbsp;disclosed&nbsp;reports&nbsp;on progress&nbsp;towards&nbsp;their&nbsp;commitment to halt deforestation.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>The World Resources&nbsp;Institute&nbsp;(WRI)&nbsp;has coordinated closely with&nbsp;the initiative&nbsp;to provide support on defining the needs of&nbsp;these&nbsp;monitoring&nbsp;systems, including&nbsp;datasets&nbsp;able to&nbsp;differentiate areas of cocoa production from&nbsp;natural forest&nbsp;and&nbsp;datasets which&nbsp;delineate the boundaries of&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks&nbsp;amongst&nbsp;other&nbsp;ecologically important areas.&nbsp;In addition to&nbsp;relevant datasets,&nbsp;a successful monitoring system needs&nbsp;a platform&nbsp;that&nbsp;can&nbsp;analyze and&nbsp;visualize&nbsp;this&nbsp;data&nbsp;to determine&nbsp;whether progress&nbsp;and key outcomes are&nbsp;being achieved. Such monitoring platforms are necessary at both&nbsp;the&nbsp;national&nbsp;scale to enable monitoring by governments, and&nbsp;supply chain scale for&nbsp;monitoring&nbsp;by&nbsp;companies.</p>



<div class="imageleft"><img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="Cocoa Farmer" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_5696.jpg" width="100%">Most cocoa farms in West Africa are small-scale. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI </div>



<p>What makes&nbsp;effective cocoa monitoring tricky however, is the way in which&nbsp;it is&nbsp;grown.&nbsp;Cocoa pods grow on trees&nbsp;and&nbsp;can be&nbsp;produced&nbsp;either in&nbsp;full&nbsp;sun&nbsp;or&nbsp;under the shade of larger trees.&nbsp;In addition,&nbsp;most cocoa operations are small-scale — an average cocoa farm in West Africa ranges in size from two to five hectares.&nbsp;This means that the spatial patterns that make a non-tree crop (like soy) more identifiable from above are much harder to detect for cocoa. Because of this,&nbsp;developing an automated and cost-efficient method of detecting and differentiating these farms&nbsp;is&nbsp;complicated.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Since 2017,&nbsp;WRI has directly supported&nbsp;cocoa and chocolate companies&nbsp;through its supply chain monitoring platform&nbsp;<a href="https://pro.globalforestwatch.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Forest Watch&nbsp;Pro</a>&nbsp;(GFW Pro).&nbsp;The&nbsp;online&nbsp;platform&nbsp;allows&nbsp;companies&nbsp;to&nbsp;securely manage deforestation risk and track progress towards&nbsp;their&nbsp;no-deforestation goals.&nbsp;It&nbsp;enables&nbsp;companies&nbsp;to&nbsp;log&nbsp;into a private account,&nbsp;plot the location of thousands of farms and&nbsp;analyze these farms in relation to&nbsp;contextual information like&nbsp;tree cover loss&nbsp;and&nbsp;protected&nbsp;forests.&nbsp;This&nbsp;system&nbsp;has enabled companies&nbsp;including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cargill.com/story/tackling-deforestation-with-data-cargill-maps-its-cocoa-supply?sf207560365=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cargill</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cocoalife.org/the-program/climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mondelez</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;prioritize&nbsp;engagement in&nbsp;risky areas&nbsp;where cocoa farms might exist near&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks or&nbsp;other protected areas.&nbsp;Companies can also produce reports&nbsp;for public disclosure in support of their sustainable cocoa policies&nbsp;and commitments.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>GFW Pro also has the potential to&nbsp;support fully&nbsp;compliant CFI monitoring. Technology providers&nbsp;have begun to&nbsp;develop maps&nbsp;detailing&nbsp;areas of cocoa production, and WRI is working with these providers and CFI stakeholders&nbsp;in West Africa to assess options for integrating these maps and other national and regional datasets into GFW Pro&nbsp;to better meet the cocoa sector’s needs.</p>



<p>At present,&nbsp;GFW Pro is&nbsp;operating&nbsp;in a&nbsp;preview&nbsp;period&nbsp;during which WRI is working with over 50&nbsp;partners to&nbsp;perfect the&nbsp;system&nbsp;before a&nbsp;public launch later this year. After public&nbsp;launch,&nbsp;supply chain actors around the globe will be able to&nbsp;create&nbsp;accounts and begin managing deforestation risk.&nbsp;</p>



<div class="imageright"><img decoding="async" class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="EG Forest Atlas" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Forest-Atlas.png" width="100%"> Forest Atlases are customizable in order to best suit each country’s needs. </div>



<p>A model like<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" WRI’s Forest Atlas (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.wri.org/our-work/project/forest-atlases" target="_blank"> WRI’s Forest Atlas</a>, which provides freely accessible infrastructure for online platforms that are hosted within and owned by national institutions, offers a solution for cocoa monitoring at a national scale. By combining official government data on land use with national and global datasets on forest change, this platform could enable CFI monitoring and management by governments. </p>



<p>The CFI’s industry wide commitment&nbsp;to collaborative&nbsp;and&nbsp;robust monitoring solutions is a commendable first step&nbsp;in combatting deforestation.&nbsp;With monitoring systems in place, CFI signatories will be able to&nbsp;effectively&nbsp;measure and&nbsp;manage&nbsp;impacts from the cocoa sector. WRI looks forward to continuing to support&nbsp;positive change&nbsp;for&nbsp;West Africa and&nbsp;around the globe,&nbsp;so that consumers can rest easy knowing no forests were harmed in the making of that chocolate bar.&nbsp;</p>



<hr> 

<div class="attribute" style="”padding-bottom:" 10px;”=""> 
BANNER PHOTO: Cocoa beans on a farm in Ghana. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI. 


</div> 

 

<hr>



<style type="text/css"></style>

Keeping an Eye on Cocoa: Satellite Monitoring Provides Key Support on No Deforestation Commitments

<p>Ever wonder where the chocolate in your&nbsp;candy bar&nbsp;came from? With 70 percent of the world’s cocoa produced by Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, chances are your midnight&nbsp;snack started&nbsp;out&nbsp;as a seed pod&nbsp;growing on a cocoa farm in West Africa.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<div class="imageright"><img class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="Cocoa pod" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_5732.jpg" width="100%">Chocolate is made by fermenting and drying the seeds of the cocoa pod. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI. </div>



<p>West Africa is also home to&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://bit.ly/2T5ifsf" target="_blank">Upper Guinean rainforest</a>, and like many other&nbsp;tropical&nbsp;areas&nbsp;where&nbsp;commodities&nbsp;compete with the environment for land,&nbsp;these forests have been threatened by the growth of the cocoa industry.&nbsp;Between 1988 and 2007 it is estimated that&nbsp;nearly&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/317701513577699790/Forest-and-climate-smart-cocoa-in-C%C3%B4te-D-Ivoire-and-Ghana-aligning-stakeholders-to-support-smallholders-in-deforestation-free-cocoa" target="_blank">2.3 million hectares</a>&nbsp;of the Upper Guinean rainforest were cleared to make way for&nbsp;cocoa farms.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;in 2017 the cocoa&nbsp;sector&nbsp;followed the&nbsp;example&nbsp;of commodities such as palm oil and soy in&nbsp;committing&nbsp;to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains&nbsp;through the launch of the&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.idhsustainabletrade.com/initiative/cocoa-and-forests/" target="_blank">Cocoa &amp; Forests Initiative</a>&nbsp;(CFI).</p>



<p>The&nbsp;CFI&nbsp;is&nbsp;led by&nbsp;the World Cocoa Foundation,&nbsp;IDH&nbsp;the Sustainable Trade Initiative&nbsp;and The Prince&nbsp;of Wales’&nbsp;International Sustainability Unit.&nbsp;This initiative&nbsp;covers an estimated 80&nbsp;percent&nbsp;of global cocoa usage and represents&nbsp;a&nbsp;pledge by&nbsp;both&nbsp;Ghana and&nbsp;Côte d’Ivoire&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;key cocoa and chocolate companies,&nbsp;to end deforestation and forest degradation&nbsp;from&nbsp;cocoa&nbsp;on any forested&nbsp;land. Specific&nbsp;areas to be protected, including&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks, are laid&nbsp;out&nbsp;within&nbsp;the&nbsp;Frameworks&nbsp;for Action for&nbsp;both countries.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>While&nbsp;this&nbsp;commitment is an impressive&nbsp;first step, it&nbsp;is only half the battle. In order to manage&nbsp;deforestation, CFI signatories&nbsp;must be able to&nbsp;detect where cocoa farms are expanding into&nbsp;forested&nbsp;lands&nbsp;so they can take appropriate mitigation&nbsp;measures.&nbsp;As part of the agreement,&nbsp;signatories committed to transparent satellite-based monitoring&nbsp;systems&nbsp;and publicly&nbsp;disclosed&nbsp;reports&nbsp;on progress&nbsp;towards&nbsp;their&nbsp;commitment to halt deforestation.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>The World Resources&nbsp;Institute&nbsp;(WRI)&nbsp;has coordinated closely with&nbsp;the initiative&nbsp;to provide support on defining the needs of&nbsp;these&nbsp;monitoring&nbsp;systems, including&nbsp;datasets&nbsp;able to&nbsp;differentiate areas of cocoa production from&nbsp;natural forest&nbsp;and&nbsp;datasets which&nbsp;delineate the boundaries of&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks&nbsp;amongst&nbsp;other&nbsp;ecologically important areas.&nbsp;In addition to&nbsp;relevant datasets,&nbsp;a successful monitoring system needs&nbsp;a platform&nbsp;that&nbsp;can&nbsp;analyze and&nbsp;visualize&nbsp;this&nbsp;data&nbsp;to determine&nbsp;whether progress&nbsp;and key outcomes are&nbsp;being achieved. Such monitoring platforms are necessary at both&nbsp;the&nbsp;national&nbsp;scale to enable monitoring by governments, and&nbsp;supply chain scale for&nbsp;monitoring&nbsp;by&nbsp;companies.</p>



<div class="imageleft"><img class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="Cocoa Farmer" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG_5696.jpg" width="100%">Most cocoa farms in West Africa are small-scale. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI </div>



<p>What makes&nbsp;effective cocoa monitoring tricky however, is the way in which&nbsp;it is&nbsp;grown.&nbsp;Cocoa pods grow on trees&nbsp;and&nbsp;can be&nbsp;produced&nbsp;either in&nbsp;full&nbsp;sun&nbsp;or&nbsp;under the shade of larger trees.&nbsp;In addition,&nbsp;most cocoa operations are small-scale — an average cocoa farm in West Africa ranges in size from two to five hectares.&nbsp;This means that the spatial patterns that make a non-tree crop (like soy) more identifiable from above are much harder to detect for cocoa. Because of this,&nbsp;developing an automated and cost-efficient method of detecting and differentiating these farms&nbsp;is&nbsp;complicated.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Since 2017,&nbsp;WRI has directly supported&nbsp;cocoa and chocolate companies&nbsp;through its supply chain monitoring platform&nbsp;<a href="https://pro.globalforestwatch.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Global Forest Watch&nbsp;Pro</a>&nbsp;(GFW Pro).&nbsp;The&nbsp;online&nbsp;platform&nbsp;allows&nbsp;companies&nbsp;to&nbsp;securely manage deforestation risk and track progress towards&nbsp;their&nbsp;no-deforestation goals.&nbsp;It&nbsp;enables&nbsp;companies&nbsp;to&nbsp;log&nbsp;into a private account,&nbsp;plot the location of thousands of farms and&nbsp;analyze these farms in relation to&nbsp;contextual information like&nbsp;tree cover loss&nbsp;and&nbsp;protected&nbsp;forests.&nbsp;This&nbsp;system&nbsp;has enabled companies&nbsp;including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cargill.com/story/tackling-deforestation-with-data-cargill-maps-its-cocoa-supply?sf207560365=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cargill</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cocoalife.org/the-program/climate-change" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mondelez</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;prioritize&nbsp;engagement in&nbsp;risky areas&nbsp;where cocoa farms might exist near&nbsp;national&nbsp;parks or&nbsp;other protected areas.&nbsp;Companies can also produce reports&nbsp;for public disclosure in support of their sustainable cocoa policies&nbsp;and commitments.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<p>GFW Pro also has the potential to&nbsp;support fully&nbsp;compliant CFI monitoring. Technology providers&nbsp;have begun to&nbsp;develop maps&nbsp;detailing&nbsp;areas of cocoa production, and WRI is working with these providers and CFI stakeholders&nbsp;in West Africa to assess options for integrating these maps and other national and regional datasets into GFW Pro&nbsp;to better meet the cocoa sector’s needs.</p>



<p>At present,&nbsp;GFW Pro is&nbsp;operating&nbsp;in a&nbsp;preview&nbsp;period&nbsp;during which WRI is working with over 50&nbsp;partners to&nbsp;perfect the&nbsp;system&nbsp;before a&nbsp;public launch later this year. After public&nbsp;launch,&nbsp;supply chain actors around the globe will be able to&nbsp;create&nbsp;accounts and begin managing deforestation risk.&nbsp;</p>



<div class="imageright"><img class=" wp-image-3569 alignright" style="padding-bottom: 10px;" alt="EG Forest Atlas" src="https://dev-global-forest-watch-blog.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Forest-Atlas.png" width="100%"> Forest Atlases are customizable in order to best suit each country's needs. </div>



<p>A model like<a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" WRI’s Forest Atlas (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.wri.org/our-work/project/forest-atlases" target="_blank"> WRI’s Forest Atlas</a>, which provides freely accessible infrastructure for online platforms that are hosted within and owned by national institutions, offers a solution for cocoa monitoring at a national scale. By combining official government data on land use with national and global datasets on forest change, this platform could enable CFI monitoring and management by governments. </p>



<p>The CFI’s industry wide commitment&nbsp;to collaborative&nbsp;and&nbsp;robust monitoring solutions is a commendable first step&nbsp;in combatting deforestation.&nbsp;With monitoring systems in place, CFI signatories will be able to&nbsp;effectively&nbsp;measure and&nbsp;manage&nbsp;impacts from the cocoa sector. WRI looks forward to continuing to support&nbsp;positive change&nbsp;for&nbsp;West Africa and&nbsp;around the globe,&nbsp;so that consumers can rest easy knowing no forests were harmed in the making of that chocolate bar.&nbsp;</p>



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BANNER PHOTO: Cocoa beans on a farm in Ghana. Photo by Caroline Winchester/WRI. 


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Ever wonder where the chocolate in your&nbsp;candy bar&nbsp;came from? With 70 percent of the world’s cocoa produced by Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, chances

Keeping an Eye on Cocoa: Satellite Monitoring Provides Key Support on No Deforestation Commitments | Commodities | Global Forest Watch Blog

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Keeping an Eye on Cocoa: Satellite Monitoring Provides Key Support on No Deforestation Commitments