PRESS INFORMATION: Two new forest projects for 2023-2025, within the global WWF and Inter IKEA partnership: Aiming to curb forest degradation and deforestation in Colombia and Brazil

For over 20 years, WWF and Inter IKEA have been working side by side on forests, cotton, water and climate, with the aim to protect landscapes, enhance biodiversity, and empower local communities. In addition to our existing collaboration on forests across 13 countries in Europe and Asia, in 2023 WWF and Inter IKEA have started new projects in Colombia and Brazil with the aim to curb forest and biodiversity loss. 

 

Landscape Conservation and Community Business Networks in Brazil

In Brazil WWF and Inter IKEA are working in the Atlantic Forest biome in the state of Espírito Santo, in the Cerrado biome and in the Tapajós river basin in the Amazon with the aim of curbing the trajectory of environmental degradation and conversion of natural forests through integrating landscape conservation and restoration activities. Multifunctional forests provide ecosystem services, non-timber forest products, food, biodiversity enhancement and much more. In the north of Espirito Santo, we are working with multiple stakeholders to support the development of a multifunctional forest hub. In Cerrado and the Amazon, together with Indigenous Peoples and local communities who live in these biomes and depend on forests, we aim to support forest friendly value chains through community business networks for socio-biodiversity value chains which includes the production of food and other non-timber forest products. Preserving traditional knowledge, generating sustainable income and improving traditional communities’ quality of life is essential for forest and biome conservation, ultimately reducing deforestation and soil degradation.    

Promoting a pathway to reduce deforestation and forest degradation in Colombia

In Colombia, WWF and Inter IKEA are supporting the restoration and protection of forests with local communities and promoting responsible forest management in the Antioquia, Santander, and Cauca regions. Promoting responsible forest management practices in both plantations and natural forests, strengthening community forest management practices and developing market linkages to legal timber platforms is an established pathway to ensuring they fairly benefit from their stewardship of natural resources. Expanding the areas of responsibly managed forests, strengthening the capabilities of the communities and smallholders to improve livelihood outcomes is something that the WWF and IKEA partnership has achieved in many countries throughout our partnership and there is a rich legacy of experience which can be shared. 

These new WWF-IKEA forest projects are great examples of the kind of private sector leadership Forests Forward strives for with its partners and complement other projects in these important forest landscapes. Forests Forward is a signature WWF programme for corporate action, in which companies go beyond their supply chains to finance conservation projects and transformative actions that benefit nature, climate and people. Find out more  here. 

 

About the IKEA and WWF partnership: WWF and IKEA are working together to safeguard and manage natural resources and transform business for the benefit of people and planet. Through engagement and projects within forests, cotton, freshwater and climate, the partnership is working to protect and enhance biodiversity by supporting a transition towards more ecologically sustainable business practices. Find out more here. 

 

For more information, contact:  Cecilia Gustavsson, Communications manager, WWF, cecilia.gustavsson@wwf.se  

Michelle Slaney, Senior Forest Program Manager, WWF, Michelle.Slaney@wwf.se