The climate has always been changing, and will always continue to do so.

There is a significant movement around climate change, often advocating a reduction of CO2 emissions.

While this is a useful objective to pursue, without a paradigm shift in our overall relationship with nature reducing CO2 won’t achieve much.

The Earth, our only Earth, is a part of us. We are one and the same.

It provides the nutrients for our bodies to be healthy.

It gives us presence and awe to keep our minds sane.

We should not see Earth as an infinite resources for us to exploit.

We should not impose our addiction to economic growth onto our already fragile habitat.

We should treat her the same way she treats us.

With gratitude, patience, forgiveness, and nurturing care.

One of the biggest stories of 2020 was the rise of the corporate tree-planting movement.

Dozens of multinational businesses from virtually every industry pledging millions of dollars to nature’s most effective carbon sequestration solution: our forests.

Fighting deforestation should be a top priority for 2021.

Many companies have promised to address deforestation related to their business activities for years, but few have fully delivered on those plans.

More than 1 million acres of forests have been lost since 1990, leaving the global stock at near 10 million acres.

And while the rate of annual deforestation slowed to about 25 million acres between 2015 and 2020

The trendlines in several regions — especially countries in Africa and South America — aren’t moving in the right direction.

The vast majority of this destruction (up to 80 percent) is linked to commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef, leather, timber, pulp and paper.

Yet, many companies hugely reliant on these resources aren’t actively fighting deforestation.

Astonishingly, a high number of companies don’t have an explicit commitment to ending deforestation at all.

What’s more, of the companies that have made commitments, many have failed to deliver or to set deadlines — with some continuously pushing dates into the future or changing the rules by which they judge progress, according to both organizations.

We’re seeing the end of the commodity era, where materials are sourced from largely unknown origins and bought purely for price on a transactional basis.

That model doesn’t address some key elements of the world we want tomorrow. The future will leverage sourcing from known farms, with price, human rights and sustainability impacts evaluated side by side.

Only by bringing the producers themselves to the center of the quest for solutions will we be able to contribute to a more sustainable world

A world in which we balance environmental outcomes with resilient and prosperous rural communities.

Technology can play an essential role in transforming outdated supply chains into more sustainable ones.

The social distancing requirements related to the COVID-19 pandemic have made the already complicated task of tracing and verifying supply chain claims related to forest degradation more difficult.

This only underscores the critical role that digital technology can play in supporting successful “no deforestation” strategies.

Technologies such as isotope tracking, genetic mapping, laser markings, and satellite mapping as a means of verifying that materials meet health and sourcing requirements have big potential.

All of this tracking, mapping and ranking can lead us to the most crucial step for making change: partnering with farmers and farmer organizations in a transparent and accountable way.