A union of palm oil smallholders is challenging the allocation of a billion-dollar fund that they say fails to help them rejuvenate their low-yielding oil palms and instead unfairly subsidizes large biofuel producers. Only 1 percent of the fund went to the smallholder replanting program last year, while 89 percent went to the biodiesel subsidy. The government has promised to amend the split to 22:70 this year. But the government has also defended the subsidy, saying it needs to artificially boost the price of crude palm oil, to make biodiesel competitive with the regular diesel sold in the country — which is also subsidized by the state.

According to the World Bank, forest fires in Indonesia last year caused the country at least $16 billion economic losses, which is equivalent to 1.9 percent of its GDP. The haze caused by the fire blanketed Singapore, parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in September and October, which was cleared by the rainy season in early November. Many of the fires were set by smallholders and companies to clear land for agriculture, especially palm oil, which makes it difficult for Indonesian authorities to respond to the fires.

FSC is declaring its intention to more than double its share of global forest-based trade in the next five years to 20 per cent. The strategic plan was developed through consensus by the FSC International Board of Directors, and included extensive consultation with FSC staff, members, and stakeholders. The new FSC Global Strategic Plan 2015-2020 has an emphasis on increasing FSC certification in tropical countries, and providing a voice to those most affected by mismanaged forests – Indigenous Peoples, workers, communities, women, and smallholders - while meeting the needs of current certificate holders. The three strategies that make up the strategic plan are 1) Strengthen the FSC framework and governance, 2) Increase market value of FSC, and 3) Transform the way FSC works.

While deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen sharply over the past decade, a larger share of forest loss is now being driven by smallholders who are more difficult to control, posing new challenges for the Brazilian government.

Large scale landowners are estimated to be responsible for around half of deforestation in the Amazon, compared to 12 per cent by smallholders, but a report from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) has found that since 2005, the contribution to annual deforestation by the largest landowners has fallen by 63 per cent, while that of smallholders has increased by 69 per cent. In 2013, overall deforestation increased by 28 per cent compared with the previous year. One of the authors said that part of the reason for the rise was that many conservation areas had been scaled down or had their protection status changed, and flagship public-private initiatives, such as a moratorium on trading soya beans from newly deforested areas in the Amazon, were about to end. Furthermore, a boom in infrastructure projects in the Amazon since 2009, including the building of new roads and dams, may also be contributing to Brazil’s rising deforestation rates. The report recommended schemes that would provide credit to Brazil’s 6 million small landowners living in rural areas in the Amazon and promote more efficient farming techniques among small farmers and large landowners.