Agricultural supply chains are responsible for over 70 percent of tropical deforestation, but can also be important drivers for reforestation and landscape restoration. While landscape initiatives emerge around international supply chains, sector initiatives strive to halt deforestation and reforest landscapes. But how can the sector be incentivized to invest in more sustainable landscapes? What role can certification play to achieve results on landscape level? To answer these questions, this forum will take you on a journey through West, East and Southern Africa to get to know the places and people behind landscapes and sectors.

In West Africa, more than 80 percent of the industry together with the governments of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have committed to halting deforestation and restore forest areas. You will find out from the Cocoa and Forests Initiative how this multi-stakeholder initiative has been established and is now being put in action, as well as how this looks at a local level.

Tea production in East and Southern Africa has also been driving deforestation, with both rural households and factory-based tea processing highly dependent on firewood. But the sector has acknowledged that it can only be sustainable if landscapes are restored and operations are based on sustainable forest management. Drawing examples from Kenya and Malawi, the conversation will explore how the industry is changing its ways.

These different experiences will show what we have to do to drive deforestation out of these agricultural supply chains and have them invest in reforestation. The conversation will also explore how such initiatives can support and be supported by the AFR100.