Interest in landscape and jurisdictional approaches has skyrocketed in recent years, with companies increasingly joining the efforts to engage beyond their supply chains in production landscapes. This includes a group of 22 retailers and manufacturers that form the Consumer Goods’ Forum (CGF) Forest Positive Coalition of Action. This coalition has committed to transforming production landscapes equal to their sourcing areas to forest positive by 2030, and have developed a Landscape Strategy to achieve this goal. Engagement at landscape scale is also promoted by other industry platforms, such as the Action for Sustainable Derivatives and Soft Commodities Forum.

Learning how to implement these approaches most effectively from one another is vital to replicate best practice and to ensure success in these programmes. To get involved and keep up to date with the latest news pertaining to jurisdictional and landscape approaches, please register here.

Why Landscape and Jurisdictional Approaches?

Companies have recognised that focusing sustainability efforts only on their individual supply chains is insufficient to stop deforestation and natural conversion from commodity production. The global community – governments, companies, and civil society alike – have also emphasised the importance of nature-based solutions to keep temperature increase below 1.5 degrees. At COP27, leaders under the Forest and Climate Leaders’ Partnership (FCLP) called for accelerated action to halt forest loss and land degradation to reverse nature loss and climate change. Landscape and jurisdictional approaches can translate these global priorities into local priorities, resulting in direct action on the ground.

Landscape approaches involve the long-term collaboration of stakeholders within a defined natural or social geography, such as a watershed, biome, jurisdiction, or company sourcing area. These approaches seek to reconcile competing social, economic, and environmental goals via integrated landscape management and multi-stakeholder discussions through which consensus is built across different stakeholders (TFA, WWF, Proforest 2020 and CDP, 2022).

Landscape and jurisdictional approaches have the potential to drive systemic change with multiple stakeholders agreeing on a shared vision and collaborating to achieve common goals. Sharing responsibilities between companies, producers, civil society, local governments, and local communities on the ground means each can contribute according to their mandates and capacity. Outcomes are expected to be sustained in the long term as the goals are determined together.

For more information, visit our Jurisdictional Approaches 101 page here.

Collaboration within the Jurisdictional Action Network

There are many ways in which members of the JAN can engage with one another as part of the network. Our existing collaboration opportunities include:

  • JAN Webinars – JAN collaborates with its network members and wider TFA partners to host quarterly webinars to share experiences, explore topics and challenges faced by the community.
  • Jurisdictional Approaches Resource Hub – JAN members can access this online platform of resources related to landscape and jurisdictional approaches. This tool is kept up to date with the latest guidance, case studies, publications, events, and stories.
  • JAN Newsletter – JAN members receive a quarterly newsletter that highlights recent developments, publications, and other resources to advance understanding of these approaches.
  • Filling knowledge gaps – TFA develops case studies and commissions research to build understanding according to sectoral needs. This includes case studies of landscape and jurisdictional initiatives and our Global Study, detailed in the next section.

See below on how to get involved.

Global Study on Company Landscape Engagement

TFA has collaborated with Proforest and CDP on a 15-month global study on private sector engagement at landscape and jurisdictional scale. The study aims to advance understanding of landscape and jurisdictional approaches as a key corporate strategy towards nature-positive businesses and to map the way forward to mobilize more private sector action and multi-stakeholder collaboration at scale.

Through interviews and desktop research, the study explores why and how manufacturers, retailers and traders have used landscape and jurisdictional approaches to address deforestation driven by palm oil, soy, beef, pulp and paper, and cocoa. It also delves into other possible uses of these approaches, including to meet corporate climate, nature, and people goals, and explains how companies can leverage and build on their efforts to collaborate with others to accelerate progress.

You can access the first two reports in the study on company landscape engagement in cocoa and pulp, paper and packaging by clicking the images below. Join the network to be kept up to date on the release of the subsequent reports throughout 2023. The final report, summarising the findings and recommendations across commodities and issues, is expected to be launched by the end of 2023. 

 

                                   

Shaping and Contributing to the JAN

We are always excited to hear from those who are in the JAN, or that are interested in joining the community. To join visit here.

You can also get in touch with us at tfa@weforum.org with ‘Jurisdictional Action Network’ in the subject line to share any ideas you may have in terms of a potential collaboration or new ways to assist the community. We are looking forward to hearing from you! 

The JAN is hosted by the Tropical Forest Alliance and has been maintained by the generous support of Cargill.