Sustainable landscapes

In addition to preventing deforestation and restoring forests within our supply chains, we are helping to restore ecosystems in the wider landscapes our key ingredients come from.

The farms in our supply chains are not isolated – they are part of broader local economies with multiple industries and land uses. This is why we need to take action and apply integrated strategies that help address the many deforestation drivers in the key regions we source our raw materials from.

By joining together with the private sector, governments, smallholder farmers and indigenous peoples and local communities, we can help achieve the vision of a regenerative and equitable agricultural system.

Reaching beyond our supply chains

Working at a landscape level is complex, but we believe it is necessary to have a significant impact. This is where the potential benefits for biodiversity, water stewardship, human rights, climate change and sustainable livelihoods intersect.

This means we need to work very closely with other stakeholders to achieve our goals. Here are some of the actions we are taking:

• Supporting sustainable landscape initiatives in our strategic procurement origins
• Focusing sourcing on landscapes demonstrating sustainable practices
• Supporting active conservation and restoration initiatives in priority landscapes
• Supporting smallholder livelihood initiatives in priority landscapes
• Participating in the development of sustainable finance mechanisms

Helping to conserve and restore the Cavally Forest 

In 2020, the Nestlé Cocoa Plan partnered with the Ministry of Water and Forests of Côte d’Ivoire and the Earthworm Foundation to conserve and restore the Cavally Forest Reserve. 

Our CHF 2.5 million investment aims to end deforestation and restore degraded forests in the region, as well as helping cocoa and rubber farmers within and around the reserve to transition to regenerative agriculture practices and diversify their incomes.

Nature-based solutions and green finance

Landscape Enterprise Networks – the LENs program – is a methodology for buying and selling nature-based solutions that reduce risk to businesses, while improving the health of a landscape.

The principle is simple. Companies and other organizations need nature-based solutions, and landowners and farmers can provide them. By bringing multiple parties together, LENs allows companies to fund sustainable landscape initiatives in a more effective way than they could achieve alone.

From a single project in Cumbria, LENs expanded as its partners put this principle into practice through multiple initiatives across the UK and Europe. For example, LENs was successfully established in the East of England, an important area for sourcing wheat for cereals and pet food, in 2021. Here, Nestlé Purina PetCare and Nestlé Cereal Partners UK are working with water companies and local authorities, together funding over 60 farmers and land managers to introduce nature-based measures across more than 10 000 hectares of land. 

Other projects are underway in Italy, Hungary and Poland.

Partnerships for greater impact

We cannot create sustainable landscapes alone. Nestlé works with partners throughout our supply chain and with industry-wide coalitions, such as the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), Forest Positive Coalition and One Planet Business for Biodiversity, to help conserve high-value ecosystems. 

Together, we are investing in landscape initiatives to help end deforestation and promote regenerative agriculture methods in areas assessed as at high risk of deforestation.

As part of our involvement in the CGF Forest Positive Coalition, we are involved in several palm oil, pulp and paper and soya landscape initiatives. 

In 2021, at COP26, the Coalition launched its Landscape Engagement Ambition to transform production landscape areas of a size equivalent to the combined production-base footprint of the members of the Coalition to forest positive by 2030.