This chapter offers a detailed examination of the European Union Deforestation Regulation, a pivotal policy that governs market access for key agricultural commodities and is reshaping trade relations between the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Focusing on exports such as palm oil, timber, and coffee from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, the analysis employs system dynamics modelling and scenario development. A central finding is the significant opportunity presented by the regulation’s 2020 deforestation cut-off date. This means the rule’s initial impact is likely narrow, affecting only about 1% of existing palm oil plantations. This limited-scale effect may be similar for other ASEAN commodities, suggesting most established producers will not face immediate, large-scale disruption. However, the chapter equally details substantive threats, including high costs for compliance, product monitoring, and institutional development, alongside risks to export volumes and the livelihoods of millions. Learning from the lengthy implementation of the timber legality agreement, the chapter concludes that equitable outcomes and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals require fair negotiations underpinned by a balance of power. It strongly advocates for empowering formal bilateral bodies, such as the EU-Indonesia Working Group, to establish clear, phased, and actionable implementation pathways.
Tag: commodities
Tree-powered bioeconomies in Africa
Key Facts
- Africa is a leading producer of six tree commodities: cocoa, shea, cashew, gum arabic, baobab and argan oil. It also contributes to the global supply of several other tree commodities of significance, including coffee, wood, oil palm, rubber, avocados, and dates.
- About 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa can be classified as tree-commodity dependent economies. Seven of them depend on a single tree commodity, while four depend on multiple tree commodities.
- Tree commodities are grown on and occur on more than 100 million hectares of land across the continent.
- Africa captures less than 10% of the global market value for most tree commodities produced.
- Up to 44% of perishable tree fruits, such as mangoes, avocados, oranges and other citrus species, are lost annually across many countries on the continent.
- Forestry contributes more than 10% of the formal gross domestic product (GDP) in about 11 African countries.
- Wood demand in Africa is expected to triple by 2050.
- An estimated 5,400 plant species and 16,000 medicinal applications have been documented in Africa, with the potential to serve as building blocks to supply part of the USD 50 billion-a-year pharmaceutical market on the continent with biopharmaceuticals.
- Africa’s middle class could grow to 40% of the continent’s population by 2060, potentially fuelling demand for high-value tree bioeconomy products and trade through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
- Only three holistic national bioeconomy policies exist in Africa (South Africa, Namibia and Ethiopia) and one regional bioeconomy strategy (the East African Community). Meanwhile, 13 countries have relevant indirect strategies and policies.
National Assurance Schemes and Market Recognition: Emerging Opportunities and Takeaways in the FACT Dialogue and Beyond
This infobrief explores the role of national assurance schemes that serve to verify the sustainability of forest and agricultural commodity value chains in driving sector-wide improvements and enabling market recognition with respect to such products (e.g., palm oil, cocoa, coffee, soy, beef and timber). While such schemes draw on the precedents set in the timber sector, this brief primarily focuses on forest and agricultural commodities with a view of informing decision makers, including policymakers, about sustainability benefits and levers of already established national assurance schemes. It analyses such schemes in terms of practical design features – governance, traceability, verification, incentives, and recognition pathways – that influence effectiveness as well as market and policy uptake. The analysis is grounded in discussions within the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue, where producer and consumer country participants and the Dialogue co-chairs identified strong interest in sharing practical learnings on national schemes. This work responds to this demand, synthesizing experiences and questions raised across the Dialogue about what works, what does not, and how national approaches can further interface with, and complement or supplement international standards and trade requirements.
Advancing palm oil sustainability to address the climate crisis: Leveraging theory of change and system dynamics model at the jurisdictional level
Global green deals, such as the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), aim to enhance the environmental governance of key commodities, including palm oil, cocoa, timber, and soy, by requiring them to be deforestation-free, legally sourced, and traceable. EUDR poses both challenges and opportunities for producing countries. This study explores how Indonesia’s palm oil sector can align with EUDR-defined sustainability standards through inclusive and systemic approaches. We employed a participatory Theory of Change involving key stakeholders across the palm oil value chain, supported by systems dynamic modeling to simulate trade-offs and identify strategic pathways toward sustainability. The approach revealed inevitable trade-offs between economic, ecological, and social dimensions. Practical solutions are available to support EUDR compliance by reducing deforestation and illegal activity while sustaining the palm oil economy. These include production intensification, certification, carbon credit, payment for environmental services, and ecological fiscal transfers from the central government. These strategies have been collaboratively developed and endorsed by both the government and stakeholders. Indonesia’s experience demonstrates that participatory, system-based methods can facilitate alignment with global sustainability regulations while addressing local priorities. The lessons and approaches apply to other environmentally sensitive commodities and geographies that aim to meet global environmental and social standards.
Study on nutrient compositions of and processed products developed from son tra (Docynia indica (Wall.)) – Second part: In-depth study of bioactive substances in son tra fruit and its processed product development.
Bisakah komoditas berbasis pohon menjadi pilihan bagi petani Buol?
Turmeric Production under Shade Management and Fertilization in Degraded Landscapes of Sumba Timur
Research to increase the farm production and income of the people of Haharu Sub District, Sumba Timur was conducted through an understory cropping trial by ICRAF, the local community, Lutheran World Relief (LWR) and Wahana Visi Indonesia (WVI). Turmeric was proposed as a priority crop by LWR because the commodity has a good market in Waingapu for both local use and off-island export. An intercropping trial was established on farmers’ land in Mbatapuhu Village, Haharu Sub District, Sumba Timur. Shade treatments included turmeric cultivation under: 1) the canopy of a three-year-old mahogany stand (38% shade); 2) the canopy of a seven-year-old mahogany stand (52% shade); 3) 55% artificial shade; 4) 75% artificial shade; and 5) full sun (0% shade) as a control. Fertilizer treatments included: 1) no fertilizer; 2) 400g organic fertilizer (cattle dung); 3) 800g of organic fertilizer; and 4) 400g organic fertilizer+20g NPK. The results showed turmeric production under 55% artificial shade with 800g organic fertilizer (cattle dung) produced 6.2-7.1 tonnes of rhizome per ha, much higher than production under any of the other treatment combinations. Turmeric perform less well under mahogany stands probably due to heavy competition for water and nutrition. Under the three-year-old mahogany trees competition was moderate and turmeric production was possible, but under seven-year-old trees competition both above and below ground was intense, making turmeric production impractical. Turmeric market opportunities exist for farmers in Haharu but require further development.
Simulating jurisdictional approach and scenario for sustainable palm oil using value chain dynamic model
In Indonesia, the jurisdictional approach is one of a key strategy for enhancing sustainability for agricultural export commodity production such as palm oil. However, the implementation still faces some challenges, including monitoring and accountability. This research aims to develop a value chain dynamic model called JAPOS (Jurisdictional Approach Modelling for Palm Oil Sustainability) that can simulate the impact of scenario and intervention, including policy, on the various indicators of sustainability at the jurisdiction level such as palm oil production, Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emissions, deforestation, and revenue from palm oil trade. We applied the model to simulate the results of multistakeholder processes at Sintang District, Indonesia, for the Sustainable Palm Oil Regional Action Plan (RAD KSB). The simulation shows that implementing the No Deforestation, No Peat, and No Exploitation (NDPE) policy will significantly impact (89%) the GHGs emissions reduction from the oil palm sector after ten years of implementation. However, it will cause around 24% production loss and an 18% loss in the revenue from the palm oil trade in Sintang District. Our model suggested that if NDPE is implemented along with intensification and premium price incentives, it will still significantly impact GHGs emission reduction and recover palm oil production and economic loss. This study shows the usefulness of the value chain dynamic model for policy scenario development in supporting the implementation of the jurisdictional approach.
Sustainable development of rubber plantations: challenges and opportunities
Plantations of all major tropical commodities are expanding quickly, creating opportunities for development and raising concerns about their impacts on the environment, landscapes and livelihoods. Natural rubber is a particularly interesting example with respect to sustainability objectives given it being a strategic commodity to support transportation and new forms of mobility. Furthermore, its world production originates at 90% from millions of smallholders. It is therefore key to the sustainable development of commodity producing countries and the commodity value chains. Global rubber demand has risen rapidly during the last decade, driven by economic development, especially in China. This expansion is expected to continue (albeit at a decelerating rate) and it will continue to be driven by the automotive industry and by the growing importance of natural rubber in the health sector. Various authors have raised concerns on rubber cultivation and expansion and its impact on livelihoods and ecosystems. The purpose of this paper, a collaboration between The Forests, Trees and Agroforestry research program of the CGIAR (FTA) and the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG), is to consider rubber production in relation to its sustainability and challenges in order to identify how it can best contribute to sustainable development in a context of climate change. We first identify some main “sustainability hotspots” that are where the challenges and opportunities are the greatest. We then consider how they can be addressed and propose a way forward to address them in a holistic way.
Tree Commodities and Climate Change: Impacts and Opportunities
Tree commodities from high-value tree crop plantations in Africa, including coffee, cocoa, oil palm, rubber and cashew, are rapidly expanding as domestic and global demand for their products is increasing. With the growing ambition of many tropical countries for exportoriented economies, tree commodities are becoming a key income source for millions of smallholder farmers. Nevertheless, production of these commodity crops increases often at the expense of fragile ecosystems such as forests, posing multiple environmental challenges. Before certification, labelling, and fair trade were put in place to manage the challenges associated with the expansion of plantations; the planet has already lost millions of hectares of important ecosystems, particularly forests that have been replaced by pure plantations over large areas. Lately, consumers’ awareness about the environmental consequences of production systems that influence ecosystems has affected the conversion of forests and other critical ecosystems into commodity farms. Despite this increase in awareness, forests are still heavily impacted by the expansions of commodity crops.