Soy Toolkit Interview with Fabiola Zerbini, Tropical Forest Alliance

Can you tell us more about how Tropical Forest Alliance works with companies to reduce the tropical deforestation associated with the sourcing of commodities such as soy? 

We work together with the GTC (Cerrado Working Group), which is a local group of NGOs, traders and the government formed to build and design an agreement for the Cerrado. It was also supported by the SoS group (Statement of Support for the Cerrado Manifesto), a demand side group, formed by many companies and investors in Europe. 

We have been working with them to move forward with the development of a financial mechanism which could bring compensation to the producers who decide to not deforest the portion they are allowed to deforest. This is key - we really need to find collective ways to guarantee that production, or the expansion of the production, will be in areas that are already opened or in areas without deforestation. Even of the legal portion that the Brazilian Forest Code allows producers or private producers to deforest. 

This needs to be addressed collectively, so the Cerrado Manifesto is one example. We also work with the Soy Coalition, which was recently created as part of the Coalition of Actions (a Consumer Goods Forum companies’ commitment). We are helping them to design and implement a soy roadmap to guarantee that they can do things individually and also work together. So, we are helping on the individual side through the Soy Coalition and also on the collective side through incentives like the Cerrado Manifesto.

Third, is the incentives side – the finance mechanism schemes, the expansion in open areas or compensation demands resource mechanisms. We’re also working with these partners to develop, implement and attract resource to the jurisdictions and producers in the supply chain who make these commitments to foster, assimilate and support them with the implementation of the commitments. 

In conclusion, we help collective commitments but also support the implementation through financial mechanisms.

2. What opportunities do new landscape approaches mean for the sector? 

I think Mato Grosso is a good example.  

If a territory has a target to reduce deforestation or emissions, you really need to have sectors working together to guarantee that this target will be accomplished. The sectors working together means they need a place for dialogue, listen and co-design new solutions. So, how to better work together among cattle and soy, or other supply chains. 

The other level of interaction potentialised by the jurisdictional approach is the public and private – so in the same place where you find your colleague from another sector that can work together with you to move on in another landscape agenda, you can also find the governance to guarantee that some legal incentives could be added to private resources or financial mechanism. Only because of this combination, a new way to produce is now possible for that landscape.

Mato Grosso is a good example of that but we do have the same model being followed by many other subnational governments - at different stages - but all of them are understanding now that if you bring the companies, civil society and producers together at one table it will be better for everybody. 

I still think that we need to mostly work with companies to really guarantee that the change from a supply approach to jurisdictional approach could be really internalised as part of their procedures and policies. 

We are not there yet. Some companies are, but not all of them - even in soy. If we do have a sector that is closer to this new way to work, then it’s soy. Part of TFA’s work, and Proforest’s, is that the ‘how’ will be understood and experimented, and then internalise it as a policy and new behaviour of the companies. 

3. What best practices can retailers and food manufactures learn from and replicate? 

Everything is interconnected in some way. If you are a company with your supply chain concentrated in one territory, you are in some way responsible for the way that the economic model of that territory will develop and also be manged by the government – and vice versa. 

A local government has some responsibility in also ensuring that the stakeholders who are buying, selling, producing will have the better conditions to do that. I think that it’s a two-way responsibility.

As an example, we are currently working with the PCI Committee (Produce, Conserve and Include) in Mato Grosso to build an investment programme to really guarantee that the targets that were announced as part of the PCI will be accomplished. 

The investment plan needs to be built, and so if you have the soy sector working with the key economic drivers of the state, then we will have different models, better information and knowledge to really attract new resources and different partners to work together with different states. 

We cannot solve complex problems with simple solutions - we need more complex solutions. It demands some willingness to work together but going through the jurisdictional approach really guarantees that you look beyond your own supply chain and own relationships. This needs to be done in a more collective and horizontal way. We are still experimenting with this new model, but I really believe that this is the future. 

 4. One element that is really important there, is the financial sector. What would be the solutions, for the financial sector, to enable and support that the commodities are produced thinking about that forest positive future.  

I think that the finance sector is crucial. They are the last ones to start this work, so we need them - and we need them as fast as possible partnering and really working together. 

It also requires that they need to think outside of their own box; they need to take risks and understand that they do have a responsibility and a role to play to promote a climate agenda for the world.

It’s a very powerful driver if you are an investor to say, “You need to show me and to guarantee that the supply chain that I am investing to develop, will not deforest.” The company that is receiving the investment will need to implement a new way to guarantee to that investor that they are not contributing to deforestation. 

The other approach looks at how financial institutions can contribute with resources, and also with a new mechanism, that can make the transition possible. Some producers, soy less so, are still far from sustainable in their current practices. 

The transition demands resources for recovering degraded areas, technical assistance and to compensate producers who decide not to deforest the portion that they could deforest because they are allowed to do that by the Forest Code here in Brazil.

The finance sector can bring money, intelligence and knowledge to work together with the companies who have some resources such as the government, donors or international corporations to really guarantee that we will have good enough mechanisms in place to build the transition. The finance sector is one of the most important players that really needs to be closer and working with all of us to make it happen. 

5. The Soy Toolkit is a free online resource that aims at showcasing the multitude of initiatives happening in the soy sector and how companies build on them to implement their commitments.

How relevant do you think it is for supply chain companies to know what is out there when they’re implementing their commitments on soy?  

As I mentioned before, we are still talking about a new way to produce, monitor supply chains and connect your own supply chain. 

Knowledge is still key and there’s no better way to learn something new than to learn from ones who are doing it. This kind of exchange can guide and help companies - not only the companies who are the leaders. 

We do have the big ones, who are in some ways more committed, but they are also five or ten steps ahead of others. There are tier two and three companies who really need new knowledge and guidance to go and make the transition in their own supply chain, so I do believe that this kind of  knowledge is very important to guarantee that the companies who are committed really accomplish and put this to practise. 

This is exactly what we need now. We need practical clues and tools, and we do have this knowledge – this is the beauty of soy – we have many companies and civil society organisation who have invented a lot. Let’s organise this and give it to the ones who need to learn how to do better. 

It’s very important and relevant for all companies, not only the leaders who are leading the process. 

6. How do you see the Soy Toolkit helping companies in the soy sustainability agenda? 

What do you think are the biggest challenges for the producing companies where the Soy Toolkit could help see what is around and how it can be adapted, used or learned from? 

I think that we are still talking about how to make the transition less costly and as shared as possible. 

The biggest challenge is how to work together from a sector perspective, but also from a jurisdictional perspective. It’s very useful to have tools and knowledge for individual action, but I think that front that we really need to work on and guarantee that we will help companies to understand and see the value of, is the collective ones. 

We do have a lot of good examples on soy, but we need to do more. This is exactly what we are talking about here – it’s a combination of knowledge, willingness and some level of acceptance that a new way to do business is demanded and required to guarantee that we will have the climate conditions and environmental conditions to keep feeding the world, and keep living as a society. 

I think there’s three components and all of them can, in some way, be fostered or stimulated by processes like this. So, this kind of toolkit can be used in dialogues and the meetings on jurisdictions, or sector-wide agreements and discussions. It’s a good combination between TFA and the Soy Toolkit as you can use this to leverage the results and the quality of the processes that we help capitalise.  

For companies interested in furthering their responsible soy sourcing commitments, we are offering free training from the expert team behind the Soy Toolkit.

Please email us at soytoolkit@proforest.net and we’ll be in touch.