The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) are engaging with the private sector to promote sustainable land use, sustainable supply chains and responsible investments. A big part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) is focused on smallholder farmers and the impacts of trade and investment. Peter Holmgren, Director General of CIFOR, and Tony Simons, Director General of ICRAF, looked at the challenges in their research.

Holmgren stressed that private sector firms were increasingly working toward more sustainability in their dealings, partly due to consumer pressure. He mentioned commitments to reduce deforestation such as the New York Declaration on Forests from 2014 that now needed to be implemented.

Simons spoke of the challenge to overcome misconceptions that public goods were private bads and vice versa. Only then would it be possible to better combine public goods with private interests.

Watch the second part of their talk on the occasion of International Day of Forests.