Can consumer-led initiatives reinforce government action to arrest tropical deforestation driven by industrial agriculture?
Arthur Blundell
Industrial agriculture—mainly for export commodities like oil palm, beef, and soy—drives most deforestation in the tropics, and the forest clearing is often illegal. This masterclass evaluates whether actions taken by consumers in conjunction with governments can help reverse the patterns of forest loss in the tropics. Experience suggests that in order to reverse commodity-driven deforestation in the tropics, two mutually reinforcing approaches are necessary, and neither sufficient alone: government action is needed to rationalize and enforce land use laws, and consumer initiatives are needed that push agribusiness to be both responsible (e.g., zero-deforestation) and legal.
Event: Land Governance in an Interconnected World_Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty_2018
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