Where there’s a tree, there’s life. Yet around the world, tropical forests are continually being cleared to meet a growing demand for beef, soy, palm oil and timber – found in the products that we all consume and use every day.

The supply chains of just these four products are responsible for over 70% of deforestation in the Amazon, the Congo basin and Southeast Asia. These three tropical forest regions are among the most important wilderness areas left on Earth. Together, they make up 80% of the world’s remaining tropical forests and are home to two thirds of land-based wildlife.

Our number one priority is to transform these major global supply chains, and the financial systems that underpin them, to be more sustainable – and with it help halt deforestation by 2030.  

“Taking care of the forest gives us satisfaction. Now that we protect it, we feel we can return or replace what we damaged in the past.” - Ubaldina Quispe, a rancher from Cafetal in Madre de Dios.

Ubaldina is one member of the 220 families taking part in farmer field schools, supported by WWF-UK, to help ranchers maintain their soil health and avoid the need to clear new areas of the Amazon to graze cattle. A key part of this work is to create conditions in which women and young people can assume leadership positions in decision making at the family and community level, being agents of change. By 2024, 39% of people taking part in the farmer field schools are women.