Good Growth Partnership (GGP), Reducing Deforestation from Commodity Production

The IAP Program’s overall objective is to reduce the global impacts of agricultural commodities on GHG emissions and biodiversity by meeting the growing demand of palm oil, soy, and beef through supply that does not lead to deforestation and related GHG emissions. Specifically, the Production project seeks to turn the sustainable production of key commodities from niche and specialized operations to the norm in each commodity sector. This project enables supply and production in the right areas and location while conserving the forest and reducing deforestation in the targeted landscapes. Key geographies are being targeted for demonstration of best practices for sustainable production of oil palm (largest driver of deforestation in Indonesia and Liberia), and beef (in Paraguay).

Structured dialogue is a central principle and tool of the support to Production child project, consisting of a process through which public and private sector stakeholders engage, plan and undertake actions related to a particular commodity production chain. Under this component, the project supports the establishment and operations of national and sub-national commodity platforms within the target countries, thus facilitating action planning, policy reform and improved enforcement capabilities.

Under its second component, the Production project supports the strengthening of farmer support systems—including extension programs, training schools, logbook and technology exchange programs, applications to measure yields, and so on— since they have the potential to generate green growth, enhance benefits and income for farmers and substantially reduce the pace of deforestation. In addition to reducing environmental damages associated with commodity production on existing agricultural lands, farmer support systems based on principles of sustainable intensification offer an important path to increasing production while minimizing deforestation.

In addition, in the target landscapes, the project contributes to the development and conservation of spatial plans aimed at ensuring commodity production and expansion within appropriate areas, as well as the reduction and eventual elimination of deforestation associated with commodity expansion, beginning with High Conservation Value and High Carbon Stock areas. Finally, the last component ensures that the project gathers and shares lessons systematically and effectively—with a special emphasis on developing and disseminating knowledge.

In this sense, the project ultimate effectiveness will lie not merely in the proximate, site-level impacts of its pilots, but rather with its emphasis on ensuring lesson learning, knowledge building and dissemination both up and down the spatial scale from landscape to global in order to improve and accelerate impact.