Governments urged to make smarter use of data to combat deforestation
Smarter use of data and stronger regulatory partnerships are needed to combat deforestation, according to a new report.
Entitled ‘Tackling deforestation through import controls’ and supported by Global Government Forum, the report published by the University of Sussex identified a need to improve data exchange both between national governments, and between agencies within governments to tackle deforestation.
Speaking at the launch of the report, which took place at the Houses of Parliament in London last month and was hosted by the non-profit organisation Rewired Earth and the University of Sussex – Anthony Alexander, associate professor of management at the university’s business school, said the report examined “the link between deforestation policy and commercial realities in supply chains”.
Alexander called for a policy framework that would allow governments and businesses to turn mandatory supply chain transparency rules into useful data with which to drive economic growth and opportunity.
“[If] you have an alignment… you don’t get that same sense of resistance,” he said.
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What the report recommends
The report flagged an “urgent need to improve public bodies’ use and sharing of data on deforestation topics”, both within and across governments.
It set out three key recommendations, including the need for governments to increase their data capabilities and embrace technologies that can help spread accountability for import controls across private and public bodies. It also urged administrations to carefully monitor the outcomes of new regulations such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), so as to avoid any “perverse incentives or unintended consequences” that may arise from them.
Emanuela Orlando, a lecturer in environmental law at Sussex Law School, said at the launch that both the public and private sector would need to reach firm agreements on any new regulations, adding that the EUDR – which is expected to come into force at the end of 2025 – is “very nice on paper, but is proving quite complex in its implementation”.
“You can’t solve the sustainability problem only from one side. You need a holistic and systematic approach,” she said.
Orlando reinforced Alexander’s message that efforts to address deforestation would need to enable economic growth, though added that ensuring “this tension… doesn’t undermine environmental protection objectives” was equally important.
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Contrasting regulatory positions
Alexander explained how current regulatory positions contrast, and described the EU’s approach as “very much about trying to change the behaviour of companies”, which differs from the US focus on prosecution of illegal deforestation imports under the Lacey Act. He framed the UK’s policy as building on the Glasgow Declaration on Forests from COP26, which places special focus on illegal deforestation.
“It’s that illegality that is really interesting, because while the [UK’s] Environment Act gives the powers to the government to require due diligence by companies, we’re yet to see the secondary legislation to enact this,” he said.
According to the report, the EU currently has “the most advanced and stringent policies on tackling imports linked to deforestation”.
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GGF’s role in the report
Global Government Forum contributed to the report by helping conduct a survey of civil servants in relevant countries. This included interviews with eight experts in the field and survey answers from serving civil servants, largely based in the UK, Canada and EU nations.
The report said that responses provided “a rare and valuable glimpse into the views of people who – while reluctant to speak on the record to researchers – will play a key role in developing and delivering anti-deforestation policies”.
Asked whether data exchange between national governments was necessary to “effectively enforce laws governing the origin and environmental footprint of imported goods”, the majority of civil servant respondents said they “agree strongly”, while most agreed that data exchange between government agencies within their countries must be improved if the relevant laws were to be enforced successfully.
“These emphatic answers highlight the existing gaps in data exchange both between and within governments and illustrate civil servants’ awareness of the potential benefits of strengthening data management and sharing,” the report said.
It suggested that governments that shared data on individuals and organisations suspected of fraud, forgery and evasion could “better identify and prosecute bad actors”. Governments that exchanged “examples of the documents produced at local level to confirm goods’ origin” would similarly “be better able to check the paper trails provided by importers”, it said.
Read the report in full: Tackling deforestation through import controls
About Jack Aldane
Jack is a British journalist, cartoonist and podcaster. He graduated from Heythrop College London in 2009 with a BA in philosophy, before living and working in China for three years as a freelance reporter. After training in financial journalism at City University from 2013 to 2014, Jack worked at Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters before moving into editing magazines on global trade and development finance. Shortly after editing opinion writing for UnHerd, he joined the independent think tank ResPublica, where he led a media campaign to change the health and safety requirements around asbestos in UK public buildings. As host and producer of The Booking Club podcast – a conversation series featuring prominent authors and commentators at their favourite restaurants – Jack continues to engage today’s most distinguished thinkers on the biggest problems pertaining to ideology and power in the 21st century. He joined Global Government Forum as its Senior Staff Writer and Community Co-ordinator in 2021.
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