In Ghana, CIFOR-ICRAF co-designed sectoral strategies with private, civic and public actors to capture sustainability transitions for each of the cocoa, oil palm, rubber, and mining sectors within the Atewa landscape. These strategies are currently being operationalized, with CIFOR-ICRAF supporting stakeholders developing financing strategies and linking them with the donor community and the financial services sector. We also established a multistakeholder landscape platform to adapt sectoral strategies into coherent landscape strategies for greater inclusion, sustainability and productivity.

In the Enchi area of Western Ghana, about 5,000 cocoa farming households are benefitting from new opportunities identified in the value chains of wood products, cashew, and medicinal plants derived from tree species promoted by a cocoa sourcing company in support of cocoa agroforestry. CIFOR-ICRAF also established 10 Collaborative Learning Platforms and training events connecting the public sector with civil society organizations.

In Indonesia, we continued to investigate the potential effects of global trade and the new EU deforestation regulation on palm oil at national and landscape levels. CIFOR-ICRAF is developing a value chain dynamic approach to simulate policy impact at these levels to show how international trade policy could align with national policies to support sustainable palm oil trade and other environmental outcomes, such as reducing deforestation, conserving biodiversity and climate change mitigation.

IKEA wanted to know if the rattan in their products was harvested sustainably in Indonesia, so CIFOR-ICRAF conducted field research in Central Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi to help understand sustainable harvesting requirements, along with working conditions and livelihoods.

Men and women from 125 micro, small and medium enterprises have been trained to register their financing needs in the new Land Finance Hub, through training support at three workshops. Hub registration will continue in Indonesia and expand to Africa. CIFOR-ICRAF researchers also contributed to the development of gender targets for the Good Food Finance Network and its Metrics Catalyst Group.

With partners, CIFOR-ICRAF established multistakeholder platforms in Lao PDR, Ethiopia, Ghana and Mozambique, bringing together private, civic and public actors around the development of business ecosystems that help agricultural and forestry investments transform their business models and contribute to a sustainable food system transition.

At the 2022 General Assembly of FSC in Bali, Indonesia, CIFOR-ICRAF’s work was highlighted in a keynote session on the central role of forests in the face of climate change, deforestation, and biodiversity loss. The General Assembly also approved a new certification standard for forestry smallholders and a new Remedy Framework to address forest conversion after 1994 – both of which included direct scientific and technical contributions from CIFOR-ICRAF.

At the 2022 World Forestry Congress, CIFOR-ICRAF organized a well-attended session on public and private sustainability initiatives, in and beyond supply chains, to promote greater inclusion of smallholders and SMEs.

In Indonesia, the team organized the national palm oil policy dialogue in August and addressed issues of environmental sustainability and putting equitable palm oil on the G20 recovery agenda.