Ecuador continues its steady step towards sustainable deforestation-free production. This October 25 in Quito, the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, through PROAmazonía (National Government program implemented by UNDP) carried out the presentation of the Deforestation-Free Green Initiative Badge with the goal of providing agricultural producers and producers of timber and non-timber forest products at the national level a competitive advantage to insert themselves in the demand and consumption trends of the global market.

The badge is an incentive that is framed in the REDD+ Action Plan “Forests for Good Living” 2016-2025, a State public policy that works in line with all international agreements to which Ecuador is a suscriber, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement, among others. This has deployed actions that promote conservation and sustainable production given the relationship between deforestation and social, economic and environmental aspects.

“Currently, 77% of the world’s population is willing to consume sustainable products and brands, 57% would change their consumption habits if they had more sustainable options and 75% would pay 10% more of the value in a sustainable brand. These data reflect that what we are presenting today will benefit our producers as it will allow them to reach international markets, where they will earn more for their products, generating employment and economic and productive development for the benefit of the whole country”, said the Minister of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition, Gustavo Manrique, during the event that was attended by authorities of the MAATE, the MAG, Agrocalidad, MPCEIP ambassadors, NGOs, private companies, and producers.

The badge is a requirement to obtain the Certification of Good Agricultural Practices + Free of Deforestation (BPA+LD in Spanish), thus combining the competences of several State portfolios, the MAG-AGROCALIDAD through Certification, the MAATE through the Deforestation-Free Green Initiative Badge for agricultural and forestry products (timber and non-timber), and the MPCEIP through the generation of alliances for differentiated commercialization that recognize Ecuador’s efforts as a pioneer country in this area.

Photos: Communication Unit – PROAmazonía
Description: Deforestation-Free Green Iniciative Badge Launch Event

The change in the consumption at the international level incorporates more rigorous regulations for the production and distribution of agricultural products, with more control over the supply chain to demonstrate a deforestation-free production of goods that do not contribute to climate change and that respect people’s rights. That is why the Sustainable Production + Deforestation-Free Certification will give certainty to the consumer that the product comes from production systems that implement sustainable and deforestation-free practices .

In this sense, PROAmazonía has collaborated through advice on the definition of deforestation-free agricultural production, the base year and the technical criteria to generate a certification that aligns with existing national regulations, both at the environmental level and at the agroproductive and forestry level that allow us to access diferentiated markets and promote the improvement of  productivity and quality of products in Ecuador.

Similarly, and with the goal of promoting a transition from conventional production to sustainable and deforestation-free production, has collaborated with pilots for the mapping of farms and implementation of traceability systems to evidence forest conservation, and through these efforts, the export of products has been carried out under the deforestation-free scheme both in cacao for the company Silva Cacao through the APEOSAE Association; and in coffee for the company LAVAZZA with producers from Zamora of the ACRIM and APECAP associations through FAPECAFES.

These actions are part of a strategy with a comprehensive value chain approach, which begins with the identification of diferentiated markets, and includes production, collection, quality control, traceability implementation, generation of agroforestry systems and mapping of productive units at the farm level. All this thanks to the training provided in the Field Schools (ECAS), where producers incorporate actions to improve their production, strengthen their certification systems, and receive non-monetary incentives for the incorporation and implementation of the BPA+LDs.

Photos: Communication Unit – PROAmazonía
Description: Deforestation-Free Green Iniciative Badge Launch Event

At the same time, it is the result of several processes that PROAmazonía has accompanied and supported since 2019, such as the positioning of the Premium & Sustainable brand, signing of the Interministerial Agreement MAG – MAATE – Agrocalidad to establish coordination mechanisms for the regulation and promotion of the certification for sustainable and deforestation-free agricultural production in continental Ecuador; the launch of the public consultation of the BPA + Deforestation Free certification held on April 9, 2021 and the socialization of the Miniterial Agreement to Issue the Tehcnical Standard for obtaining the Deforestation-Free Green Initiative Badge held on July 5, 2022.