Taking deforestation and conversion out of supply chains

A toolkit for companies to implement deforestation and conversion free commitments

 

© Peter Caton/WWF-UK, Ana Paula Rabelo/WWF-UK, Jason Houston/WWF-US

Overview

Around the world, we are losing habitats such as forests and grasslands at an alarming rate, as they are burned, cleared, or plowed into cropland and grazing land for food production. This deforestation and conversion of habitats harms both people and nature—driving biodiversity loss, disrupting freshwater cycles, eroding soils, driving climate change, and marginalizing the communities that depend on them.

Beef and soy production are two of the leading drivers of this habitat loss, and some of the largest landscape transformation is happening in South America. Over the last decade many companies across food supply chains have made commitments to take deforestation and conversion out of their supply chains. But it’s one thing to commit, it’s another to act.

WWF has developed a Deforestation and Conversion Free (DCF) Implementation Toolkit to help companies move from commitment to action in alignment with the Accountability Framework. The Toolkit contains activities and materials for companies to achieve DCF supply chains for beef, soy, and leather produced in the Amazon and Cerrado in Brazil, and the Gran Chaco in Argentina and Paraguay.

WWF is working across markets to promote sustainable supply chain solutions among companies, platforms, and industries that produce or source agricultural products. These business solutions help companies shift towards more sustainable practices, reduce environmental impacts, and improve their bottom line.

Learn more about the drivers of tropical deforestation and other habitat loss.

What's in the toolkit

The toolkit helps companies implement the Accountability Framework guidance for setting, implementing, and monitoring ethical supply chain commitments. The toolkit can be applied by companies at different places along the value chain, including brands, financial institutions, meatpackers, restaurants, retailers, and soy traders.

This resource includes tools to:

  • ASSESS: Materials to evaluate current practices, identify management gaps, summarize results, and provide recommendations.
  • PLAN: A template to organize those recommendations into milestones to monitor progress.
  • EXECUTE: A catalog of technical reference materials to move from commitment to action.

Get started

If you are working in beef, soy, or leather in Brazil, Argentina, or Paraguay, use this Toolkit for your implementation journey. If you are working in other sectors or countries, please see AFi’s tools.

Assess

 

The DCF Assessment Tool evaluates current company practices in supply chain management and provides recommendations to advance toward DCF supply.

Select one:

Then, use this Summary of Assessment Results Template to consolidate performance by commodity and biome and highlight necessary actions.

Need more help? Here’s a guided tour of the Assessment Tool.

Plan

 

The Implementation Plan is the roadmap to implement a DCF commitment. Developed using the assessment results, it helps organize recommendations into a timeline of milestones and actions and provides a model for internal and external monitoring and reporting.

Select one:

Need more help? Here’s a guided tour of the Implementation Planning Tool.

Execute

 

This Tools Catalog provides tools, guidelines, initiatives, and materials available to help execute your Implementation Plan. There are many to choose from, and the catalog navigates to the right reference for activities based on your plan.

DOWNLOAD

 

Forests

BRF S.A. develops a DCF Implementation Plan for Soy Supply Chains

In 2018, BRF S.A., a Brazilian company that is one of the global leaders in the food sector, developed an implementation plan for a more sustainable soy supply chain by applying the DCF Implementation toolkit in partnership with WWF and the support of Rever Consulting. This plan included all necessary aspects for an effective definition and implementation of commitments against deforestation