Project Evergreen: Harnessing cutting edge remote sensing technologies at ECOM Research

Expansion of agricultural lands  is a  major driver of  rainforest loss  in the tropics . For instance, according to recent estimates published  in Nature, cocoa production is responsible for approximately 37% of forest loss in protected areas of Côte D’Ivoire. As part of the  commitment to our shift to net-zero, it is imperative that ECOM has robust methods in place to monitor deforestation within its areas  of operation. These methods play a pivotal role not only in assessing ECOM's carbon footprint but also in aligning with the forthcoming  EU Deforestation Regulations (EUDR).

In the past 12 months, ECOM Research has worked closely with scientists at  Cranfield University to develop new and more effective deforestation detection methodologies.  The resulting study has revealed that industry standard datasets  are often unsuitable for measuring deforestation on tree crop plantations. This is largely due to the difficulty in differentiating  between forest tree loss  and land management practices, such as  the pruning and replanting of crop trees. This poses a problem as many farmers could  be incorrectly flagged for deforestation on their farms, consequently rendering them unable to export their harvest to the EU under the forthcoming regulations. 

By leveraging Cranfield University’s expertise in remote sensing technologies, ECOM Research  has been able to construct a more precise deforestation product that is able to better distinguish between forest tree loss and land management practices. Initial revisions of historical deforestation in our direct supply chain have consequently  shown  decreases of  22%  in Peru and 37% in Côte D’Ivoire between 2001 and 2020. 

This methodology has now been validated by Cranfield University,  and we are currently in the process of testing automated deforestation checks on direct supply chain polygons in three  key priority origins, namely Côte D’Ivoire, Nigeria and Vietnam. 

Please get in touch with the ECOM Research Department if you would like additional information.

Author:  Ryo Kurashina(ECOM  Research)

Head of Research: Richard Puddifoot

(1) Kalischek, N., Lang, N., Renier, C. et al. Cocoa plantations are associated with deforestation in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Nat Food 4, 384–393 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00751-8

(2) This comparison is against previous historical deforestation estimates produced using a third-party, industry standard methodology.