GFW Pro Analysis of Argentina’s Forest Data Helps Companies Comply with National Law
GFW Pro has released new data that maps native forests in Argentina according to their conservation value, making it possible to assess potential deforestation in high conservation value areas as required under national law.
Argentina’s National Forest Law (NFL), enacted in 2007, aims to restrict where tree clearing is allowed in the country. Under this law, provinces must implement Territorial Planning of Native Forests (in Spanish, Ordenamiento Territorial de Bosques Nativos, or OTBN) where they classify and map native forests by their conservation value. These areas are marked in the OTBN map as low value (green), intermediate value (yellow) or high value (red) based on their value to biodiversity, soil and water quality, water regulation, carbon sequestration, landscape diversity and culture and local communities.
The NFL requires companies to monitor for deforestation using the OTBN map, but this has been difficult due to lack of data. The Pro team has been working collaboratively with the Sustainable Finance Protocol in Argentina and other partners such as Vida Silvestre, MapBiomas, the Tropical Forest Alliance, and WRI researchers and engineers on monitoring solutions that meet the needs of users in Argentina. Analysis of the OTBN data set is the first such solution available, and other relevant assessments for the country will be coming to the Pro platform.
GFW Pro offers analysis of commodity sourcing location overlap with OTBN-mapped areas to identify tree cover loss as well as near-real-time deforestation alerts within those areas, enabling any organization to take action where it is needed most. For example, banks that adhere to the Sustainable Finance Protocol can now assess risks and avoid financing organizations that have cleared forests in ways that don’t comply with the national law.
With these tools and resources, companies and banks that use Pro will be better equipped to meet the demand of global markets, climate finance initiatives, sustainable protocols and regulations such as the recent EU Deforestation Regulation.
Log into your GFW Pro account to explore the OTBN analysis.
