On 3 July, the webinar in the Zero Deforestation Learning Series, organised by the Team Europe Initiative on Deforestation-Free Value Chains, took place. This time, the topic was Public-Private collaboration. The webinar, split into morning and afternoon sessions, brought together five speakers from around the world who shared fascinating insights. The discussion with the 50 participants was valuable, with questions and ideas regarding risk mitigation and the possibility of policy and business reinforcing each other being exchanged.
Missed the life session? Watch the full webinar about Public-private collaboration in the video below:
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[06:10] Kennedy Nyambi from Empowering Farmers Foundation (Zambia) opened the morning session with an input about Organic Soybean Production in Zambia. He highlighted how public–private cooperation was a key factor for enabling digital mapping and thus was able to engage 1,250 smallholders with over 1,250 hectares of land.
[29:57] Faruk Nyame from Cocobod (Ghana) shared his view on Approaches and benefits of Public-Private Collaboration in the Ghanaian Cocoa Sector. The GCTS, the Ghana Cocoa Traceability System, supports Cocoa Farmers in making their products EUDR-compliant and thus creating a stronger Cocoa value chain and fosters trust between public and private stakeholders. He reiterates that “Collaboration with supply chain partners is our strength”.
[45:39] Our last speaker for the morning session was Victoire De Wever from OlamAgri, which works to establish sustainable and traceable natural rubber value chains. Through public private partnerships farmers in the rubber sector were supported and trained in mapping their land. This bolstered EUDR-compliance and thus supported livelihoods in both Indonesia and Côte d’Ivoire. The partnership allows for a bigger scale and creates the possibility for more innovative activities.
[01:02:43] Discussion
[01:21:50] Our afternoon session was opened by Josil Murray from the European Forest Institute (EFI), who shared news and knowledge from the EUDR Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP promotes collaborative engagement between businesses, EU Competent Authorities and the European Commission, focusing on the exchange of practical solutions and the identification and resolution of implementation challenges. After dry runs (simulating checks on an operator’s due diligence System and shipments) the key learnings were clear: Neither side had all the answers and the most useful discussions emerged when different perspectives were brought together. The dry runs created more openness and a better identification of practical solutions. She was accompanied by two private sector members of the CoP (Keelong Foo, Tatwin and Nicolaos Safouris, Mars) who shared their experiences and lessons learned from this engagement.
[01:47:12] Last but not least, Cecilia Korber Gonçalves from ProForest (Brazil) presented the Transparency Taskforce of Coalizão Brasil which is a multi‑stakeholder platform, bringing together private sector, finance, civil society, and academia. It advances national policy and technical solutions for soy and beef traceability, emphasizing data transparency, interoperability, and integration of existing systems, while promoting inclusion and alignment with market regulations.
[02:09:01] Discussion
Throughout the sessions, speakers showcased how collaborative, public–private approaches are accelerating EUDR-compliant traceability across commodities. The shared takeaway is that deforestation-free value chains hinge on regulation and cooperation, and that a cooperation between the Public and the Private Sector remains not only necessary but beneficial towards achieving EUDR-compliance and social inclusion.
