Can corporate forest policies achieve global conservation objectives?

“I have been obsessed with tropical conservation since high school”, Prof. Garrett disclosed when starting her talk. She has stuck with the topic ever since, and her passionate interest does not seem to have changed a bit over the course of her career. What changed, however, is the primary driver of tropical deforestation: while smallholder farming was the dominating factor in the past, large-scale commodity-driven deforestation for soy, oil palm, coffee and cattle farming now is of primary concern. A growing number of multinational corporations are recognising that they have to act upon the deforestation risk in their food supply chains. This development has resulted in a range of zero-deforestation commitments (ZDC), pledges to not source from suppliers who have recently deforested. Prof. Garrett’s talk focused on addressing two questions: First, how effective are ZDCs likely to be on a global scale and second, have existing food supply chain policies improved forest conservation and rural livelihoods?

Prof. Garrett just recently submitted three research grant proposals (one to SNSF and two to the ERC) to expand on her ongoing research on corporate forest policies. Moreover, she is keen to foster joint engagement in cross-sectoral supply-chain analysis: “There is an opportunity here to collaborate, to work with people that have experience in other types of supply chains”, Prof. Garrett stated in closing her talk, pointing towards the ISTP Minerals research group. On behalf of the whole institute, I would like to thank Prof. Garrett for her compelling talk at the ISTP colloquium.