Definitions marked with an asterisk (*) are the standard definitions established by the FAO (2020[21]); others are not internationally agreed. Although they also feature in many international and national frameworks and legislation, it is important to note that definitions of some of these terms, such as “forest”, are often different in national legislation and in voluntary standards. Companies can adopt different definitions but should ensure they are clearly stated in their corporate strategy on deforestation.
Afforestation: Establishment of forest through planting and/or deliberate seeding on land that, until then, was under a different land use, implies a transformation of land use form non-forest to forest.
Control points or choke points: Enterprises that have greater visibility and/or leverage over their own suppliers and over business relationships further up the supply chain than enterprises closer towards consumers or end-users. They can have the following characteristics:
Point of transformation. They are located at key points of transformation in the supply chain where traceability or chain of custody information may be aggregated or lost.
Low number. There are relatively few enterprises at this specific point in the supply chain that process or handle a majority of inputs that they pass further down or up into the chain.
High Leverage. The greatest point of leverage over suppliers and actors further upstream in the supply chain.
Audits occur here. Points where schemes and audit programmes already exist to leverage these systems and avoid duplication.
Conversion: Change of a forest or other natural ecosystem to another land use or profound change in a natural ecosystem’s species composition, structure, or function.
Cut-off date: The date in legislation or standard after which deforestation on the plots or properties of origin is not permitted if the commodities or products are to be considered compliant with the legislation or standard or policy.
Deforestation*: The conversion of forest to other land use independently, whether human-induced or not.
Deforestation-free: There is no standard definition for this term, but it is generally taken to mean commodities or products or supply chains that do not cause or contribute to deforestation or forest degradation in their country of origin.
Forest*: Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 metres and a canopy cover of more than 10%, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use.
Forest degradation: There is no FAO or other standard definition for this term; the FAO encourages countries to define it themselves. The definition included in the Accountability Framework, which applies to other natural ecosystems as well as forests, is: “Changes within a natural ecosystem that significantly and negatively affect its species composition, structure, and/or function and reduce the ecosystem’s capacity to supply products, support biodiversity, and/or deliver ecosystem services.” (Accountability Framework, 2020[4])
Forest-positive: There is no single definition for this term, but it is generally taken to mean moving beyond simply managing deforestation risks in an enterprise’s supply chain to achieving positive impacts on forests and the workers and communities who depend on them.
High carbon stock approach: methodology for distinguishing forest areas that should be protected – those that are important to local communities or have high carbon or biodiversity values – from degraded lands that may be developed, through an integrated land use planning approach.
High conservation value: biological, ecological, social, or cultural value of outstanding significance or critical importance.
Indigenous Peoples*: People regarded as indigenous on account of their descent from the population which inhabited the country, or a geographical region to which the country belongs, at a time of conquest or colonisation or the establishment of present state boundaries and who, irrespective of their legal status, retain some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions.
Landscape and Jurisdictional Approaches: IUCN defines a Landscape approach as one where the interests of the different stakeholders in a landscape are assessed in an integral manner and aligned through dialogue. The landscape approach works on sustainable landscape management while considering the full socio‑economic context in an area (IUCN, 2023[22]).
Natural ecosystem: An ecosystem that substantially resembles – in terms of species composition, structure, and ecological function – one that is or would be found in a given area in the absence of major human impacts. This includes human-managed ecosystems where much of the natural species composition, structure, and ecological function are present.
Zero-deforestation: Commodity production, sourcing, or financial investments that do not cause or contribute to deforestation. This definition refers to gross deforestation, i.e. any conversion of forests to other land use without regard to compensatory gains in forest cover.