WEF: Tropical Forest Alliance 2020, Government of Colombia to launch a multistakeholder platform to protect over 60 million hectares of Amazon rainforest

• Colombia is working with the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 to convene a multistakeholder platform of buyers, producers, international donors, NGOs and civil society organizations to protect the Amazon rainforest
• The platform will initially cover palm oil and is expected to extend to other major commodity-driven causes of deforestation, including beef, dairy and timber
• The government aims to have zero net deforestation in the Amazon by 2020, and to have stopped all natural forest loss by 2030
• More information is available at www.tfa2020.org

The platform, launched today (28 Nov 2017), is called the TFA 2020 Colombia Alliance and follows the government’s target to have zero net deforestation in the Amazon by 2020.

It will initially cover palm oil and is expected to extend to other major commodity-driven causes of deforestation, including beef, dairy and timber. It will follow principles laid out in TFA 2020’s Commodities and Forests Agenda 2020, which outlines strategies to address deforestation – a major driver of pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. Colombia is home to one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth, home to about 10% of the world’s species, yet its tropical forests are under threat.

Details on the TFA 2020 Colombia Alliance’s mission, vision, objectives and governance are available here (English) and here (Spanish).

It is supported by a range of stakeholders:

· Businesses include dairy company Alqueria, retailer Grupo Exito, agricultural firm Poligrow, consumer goods company Unilever, and chemicals and agricultural products company Yara International.

· Donor countries and organizations include the governments of Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, USAID and the World Bank.

· NGOs and civil society organizations include Climate Focus, Earth Innovation Institute, Fondo Acción, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), The Nature Conservancy, Proforest, Solidaridad, the South Pole Group, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

“The TFA 2020 Colombia Alliance will be a platform to join forces towards sustainable agricultural production free of deforestation,” said Colombia’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Luis Gilberto Murillo. “The signature of the Palm Oil Zero Deforestation Agreement represents a key effort in bringing down international commitments to the Colombian context, and in employing our National Forest and Carbon Monitoring System from IDEAM as a catalytic tool to identify and prevent deforestation in the production and supply of palm oil in Colombia. We are pleased to have a critical mass or companies and organizations joining these efforts.”

Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment, said: “Colombia is at the forefront, and is becoming one of the world leaders on forest preservation and restoration. I commend Colombia for being the first country in Latin-America to join the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020. We are very happy to be taking part in today’s launch of a national coalition of public and private partners committed to promoting sustainable agriculture and zero deforestation supply chains in Colombia.”

Retailer Grupo Éxito was the first company in Colombia to become a TFA 2020 global partner in 2014. Since then, the company have been working on several activities to promote a more sustainable production in Colombia of beef and palm oil, as well to promote reforestation and sustainable gardens in urban areas.

“The launch of the TFA 2020 Colombia Alliance is important as a strengthening mechanism for joint action in Colombia to reach our deforestation goals,” said Mariana Villamizar, Director of Public Relations at Grupo Éxito.

Notes to editors

Read about the Tropical Forest Alliance: www.tfa2020.org #TFA2020

More about the World Economic Forum’s work on Environment and Resource Sustainability here

Read our blogs: http://wef.ch/agenda

Access our photo archive: http://wef.ch/pics

Become a Facebook fan: http://wef.ch/facebook

Follow us on Twitter: http://wef.ch/twitter