These 5 entrepreneurs are protecting tropical forests through sustainable trade

Over the past 20 years, more than 60 million hectares of primary forest have been lost in the tropics, equivalent to an area the size of France, with an increasing demand for most forest risk commodities being driven by a higher per capita consumption. Forests are increasingly prominent on the global agenda due to the critical role they play in global food and trade systems, as well as to biodiversity and livelihoods. We urgently need to scale up solutions that accelerate the transition towards more sustainable land use practices around agriculture.

In June 2021, the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA) and UpLink launched the Tropical Forest Commodities Challenge to call for innovative and systemic approaches to global production and trade of agricultural commodities, that deliver social and economic benefits for local communities.

The Challenge was designed and run in collaboration with the FACT Dialogue and UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021, run in partnership with supporting partners Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), Stockholm Environment Institute, WA’IK, and Wilmar. It received 82 submissions that were carefully reviewed and assessed by a community of experts from TFA and its partners to elect a cohort of 5 Top UpLink Innovators.

PemPem empowers smallholder farmers and traders in key commodity supply chains to become more sustainable and profitable. They build mobile supply chain management software for micro-enterprises in rural areas, introducing practical technologies to promote sustainability and bring greater access to the value chain.

Meet the Top Innovators of the Tropical Forest Commodities Challenge: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/these-5-entrepreneurs-are-providing-innovative-and-systemic-approaches-to-global-production-and-trade-of-agricultural-commodities/