Technical facility on deforestation-free value chains

Deforestation and forest degradation driven by agricultural expansion are growing at an alarming rate in tropical forest countries. These trends are contributing to the decline of biodiversity, weakening essential ecosystem services, and intensifying the impacts of climate change. In this context, transitioning to legal and deforestation-free value chains, particularly for commodities like cocoa, coffee, rubber, palm oil, soy and cattle, is essential to promote sustainable development and respond to increasing global expectations for environmentally responsible production.

Our objective: supporting countries in the transition to deforestation-free value chains

The Technical Facility on Deforestation-free Value Chains collaborates with commodity-producing countries to assist in transitioning to legal and deforestation-free value chains, in line with the EU Deforestation Regulation’s (EUDR) market requirements.

Activities are carried out in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia and target key commodities such as cocoa, coffee, rubber and palm oil. Smallholder farmers are a key focus of the Facility’s work, ensuring that their role is recognised and supported in the transition towards sustainable and deforestation-free production.

Our work: providing tailored technical support and expertise

The Facility’s work is demand-driven and structured around priorities identified jointly with EU Delegations, DG INTPA and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), based on the needs of commodity-producing countries. The support is flexible and combines tailored technical knowledge with the involvement of a broad set of stakeholders and value chain actors. The Facility works in close collaboration with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC).

The Facility aims to provide a flexible and rapid response to country stakeholders’ policy and technical needs, in close collaboration with other EU initiatives and programmes.