Transparency
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Most forest destruction starts with a crime. Forest areas have historically been ‘white places on the map’, far from the attention of central authorities or the media. Where governments have had surveillance capacity, enforcement efforts have struggled to reach beyond the poor person with the chainsaw and reach the kingpins behind investing in the operations. Companies committed to buying deforestation-free commodities have not been able to determine who supplied their supplier. Investors and banks have lacked the tools to determine the deforestation risks of their portfolios, and to act on them.
Our strategy
NICFI will continue to invest heavily in new technology and transparency solutions:
- Biophysical – knowing where forest destruction occurs:
- Global Forest Watch, which provides free access to satellite pictures showing changes in tree cover in near real time.
- FAO’s SEPAL program, which helps forest countries use satellite data
- The NICFI Satellite Data Program, in collaboration with KSAT, Planet and Airbus, making high-resolution satellite imagery freely available to everyone.
- Ownership – knowing who owns the land/concession:
- Various efforts with governments and civil society to promote transparency around forest concessions and determine the ultimate beneficial ownership of the concessions.
- Commercial – who buys from whom:
- TRASE, which uses customs data to track supplier relationships and geographical sourcing, allowing purchasers and financiers to determine deforestation risk and act on it.
- Voluntary firm level disclosure schemes, such as CDP and Accountability Framework Initiative.
- Finance – knowing who finances whom: