Innovating for Sustainable Land Systems
CLEVER’s contributions at the Global Land Programme Conference in Oaxaca, Mexico
CLEVER researchers are advancing solutions to tackle the impacts of global commodity trade on biodiversity producer countries. Representing research institutions in Germany, Spain, Brazil, and Austria, the team recently showcased their innovative work at the 5th Open Science Meeting of the Global Land Programme (GLP) in Oaxaca, Mexico. Held from November 4–8, 2024, under the theme Pathways to Sustainable and Just Land Systems, the conference brought together experts worldwide to explore sustainable land-use strategies and challenges. The CLEVER team shared groundbreaking research on biodiversity metrics, supply chain tools, and governance mechanisms, contributing to interdisciplinary discussions on sustainable agriculture, trade policies, and land-use modeling, while forging collaborations to address global land-system challenges.
Andrea Pacheco from the University of Bonn (UBO) led a session on innovative biodiversity metrics, exploring how agriculture-driven land-use changes impact nature conservation. The presentation covered diverse scales, from local soil biodiversity in Michoacán to CLEVER biodiversity indicators in Brazil, highlighting the complexity of biodiversity metrics and their different applications. The session explored the challenge of selecting the right metric for different contexts and emphasized the importance of developing tools that go beyond species counts, integrating broader biodiversity aspects and their connections to human well-being.
Britaldo Soares Filho and Felipe Nunes (UFMG) presented innovative geospatial tools to trace deforestation-risk commodities, such as soy and cattle, to the farm of origin in Brazil. These tools also include Selo Verde, a freely accessible traceability platform to support the monitoring and evaluation of sustainable agriculture policies and practices in the State of Minas Gerais. Selo Verde provides a set of estimates on agricultural production and environmental suitability for rural properties registered in the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR) and can be used to verify the compliance of rural properties that produce coffee, forestry, soy, cattle and sugarcane. The session also featured the work of the CLEVER researcher Ubirajara Oliveira, who is developing predictive models to estimate the spatial distribution of land uses and associated biodiversity loss at 1 km resolution, to be used for deriving quantitative indicators for deforestation-risk supply chains. All these tools can help producers and supply chain actors to certify their products in accordance with the EUDR.
Neus Escobar from BC3 contributed to the session ‘Achieving Sustainable Food Systems’ with her presentation on a new global multiregional input-output database that traces agri-food supply chains with an unprecedented level of products, based on official FAO statistics. The Agro-SCAN database includes physical flows of 640 primary products and derivatives across 181 countries, from producers to consumers, for the period 2013-2020. This is meant to become a revolutionary tool for supply chain transparency, as it allows actors to identify environmental hotspots, import dependencies, and more sustainable sourcing strategies. At the same time, it can be applied for estimating environmental footprints, including biodiversity loss and other land-driven impacts. Agro-SCAN can also inform the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-free products (EUDR), since it provides information on potential high-deforestation-risk countries exporting commodities to the EU.
David Leclère from IIASA presented their most recent methodological developments of the GLOBIOM model for assessing future pathways on trade and biodiversity. GLOBIOM provides the central framework for the ex-ante simulation of policies in CLEVER, including leakage. Leclère presented an update of the bending the curve pathways exploring their impact on trade flows, and the impact of refined trade narratives – from exacerbated liberalization to trade frictions and coordinated trade greening. The model will be used to assess the market-mediated impacts of alternative international supply chain policy scenarios co-created with stakeholders, considering a wide array of strategies such as the EUDR, the EU-MERCOSUR trade agreement, national policies such as the Forest Code or the Soy Moratorium, and other demand-side initiatives. Results will shed light on how future agricultural trade can be affected by efforts towards ambitious biodiversity goals and to what extent alternative governance of agricultural trade can foster biodiversity conservation. David also chaired a session on equity and justice in model and scenario applications, in link with the pathways developed in RAINFOREST, another HEU project from the same cluster.
Laila Berning from the University of Freiburg (UFR) and Andrea Pacheco (UBO) chaired the session on “designing for impact: success and failures of forest-risk commodity policies and governance mechanisms”. In this cross-disciplinary session, we discussed how forest-risk commodity and supply chain policies are designed and then evaluated on the ground and how they are expected to contribute towards long-term sustainable goals such as biodiversity conservation.
Laila Berning presented a book chapter on the emergence of a new governance regime for forest- and ecosystem-risk commodities, co-authored by Rafaella Ferraz Ziegert and Metodi Sotirov from the University of Freiburg (UFR), and Mathias Cramm and Sven Wunder from the European Forest Institute (EFI). In her presentation, Berning showcased the interplay between legally binding and non-binding policy instruments governing forest and ecosystem-risk commodity (FERC) value chains, highlighting the hybrid logics underpinning regulatory and voluntary governance approaches on case studies from the EU, Brazil, Cameroon, and Gabon. Berning demonstrated that anticipated synergies between these instruments often fall short in practice. Her analysis revealed misalignments between international frameworks and regional implementation, challenging the presumed “win-win” scenarios across environmental, social, and economic policy domains. These findings call into question the effectiveness of current governance regimes in harmonizing diverse policy objectives across demand- and supply-side regions.
Relatedly, Rafaella F. Ziegert (UFR) presented an empirical analysis of policy coherence, focusing on the EUDR as a transnational trade regulation. She examined the interaction between EUDR and national forest laws and hybrid public-private governance mechanisms in Brazil, Cameroon, and Gabon, proposing a taxonomy to categorize such interactions into four dynamics: coordination, cooptation, competition, and chaos. While the EUDR aligns well with certain overarching goals, such as forest protection, and shares implementation tools with select national policies, Ziegert identified critical inconsistencies. Specifically, cooptation and competition emerge where regulatory requirements and enforcement mechanisms diverge, possibly undermining policy effectiveness and delegitimizing national regulations. Her findings underscore the need for greater coherence between EU regulations and producer country policies to mitigate regulatory fragmentation, conflicting standards, and operational uncertainties, which risk delegitimizing existing frameworks.
Gustavo M. Oliveira (UBO) shared research insights on the role of traders and trade-specific factors in shaping the effectiveness of forest protection policies, using the Amazon Soy Moratorium (ASM) as a case study. His research identified “stickier” soy traders as pivotal actors in reducing deforestation. These traders were responsible for approximately 540 km² of avoided primary forest deforestation under the ASM between 2006 and 2018. Oliveira further demonstrated how contextual factors, including demand-side preferences in international markets, varying degrees of supply chain stickiness, and market power, positively moderated the ASM’s impacts. These findings emphasize the essential influence of trade dynamics in bridging policy implementation and conservation impacts.
Beyond their presentations, CLEVER team members relished the opportunity to connect with peers from around the world. The conference’s vibrant setting in Oaxaca provided a welcoming space to engage in meaningful discussions, share ideas, and forge new collaborations. The team met with representatives from other prominent projects in the GLP network, exchanging insights on effective sustainable land use, predictive modeling, and community engagement strategies. The CLEVER researchers’ participation in the 2024 GLP Conference not only elevated their own research but also strengthened the global land-system science community, laying the groundwork for impactful collaborations and innovative solutions in the years to come.
Co-authored by Neus Escobar, Rafaella Ferraz Ziegert, Andrea Pacheco, Laila Berning, David Leclere and Gustavo Magalhaes de Oliveira.
Photos provided by the CLEVER Team.