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In a forcedly global system, we are facing a more and more regulated, sustainable coffee market. The International Coffee Organization is the only coffee intergovernmental organization working to face the numerous challenges of this polyhedric world, from producing fields to consuming markets. Coffee statistics, a unique table for discussion, starting from multilateral up to bilateral dialogue, involving private entities and civil society, cooperation and development projects, and the circular economy are some of the main issues for this intense year 2023. In Europe, one of the main issues for coffee contaminants is the renewal of the authorization as an active substance for glyphosate, which is a chemical widely used in herbicide products, especially in the coffee sector. The use of glyphosate is approved in the EU until 15 December 2023, subject to each product being authorized by national authorities following a safety evaluation. In July 2023, EFSA published the results of a risk assessment for the active substance glyphosate, where no critical areas of concern for the health of humans, animals, or the environment have been identified. Due Diligence: On 1 June 2023, the European Parliament agreed on its position on the Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDDD), which requires in-scope companies to conduct due diligence on and take responsibility for human rights abuses and environmental harm throughout their global value chains. The European Coffee Federation has supported the proposal in May 2022 through a position paper, as it is an important step toward the development and promotion of more socially and environmentally sustainable and responsible coffee value chains, sustainable sourcing approaches, and the prevention of loss of biodiversity and natural resources. Deforestation EU regulation: changes to food systems are required to halt deforestation and forest degradation to slow the rate of climate change and the threat to global diversity. Henceforth, the EU deforestation regulation aims to minimize the risk of placing products and commodities on the EU market that cause deforestation and forest degradation. There is a strong need to conduct country-level assessments on the readiness to fulfill the new EU legislation, especially on how smallholder coffee farming families would be affected. To be prepared, producing countries, coffee farmers (and particularly small-holder farmers) and their producer organizations need timely information on guidelines and capacity building on regulatory due diligence. Data requirements on geo-localization and traceability need to feed a discussion on how data should be managed and by whom, as well as on data ownership. Sector-specific guidelines are required, and for the coffee sector specifically, on how to differentiate between forest and coffee agroforestry systems such that coffee farm management is not seen as deforestation. As evident, more and more issues for a sustainable coffee world are arising, impacting the whole global coffee market; traceability is becoming a pillar on which it needs to be developed, stimulating multilateral and bilateral dialogue to help all countries align their capacities to reach this important common target. Full article

Soybean is one of the most important agricultural commodities in the world, thus making it important for global food security. However, widely used process-based crop models, such as the GIS-based Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (GEPIC) model, tend to underestimate the impacts of extreme climate events on soybean, which brings large uncertainties. This study proposed an approach of hybrid models to constrain such uncertainties by coupling the GEPIC model and extreme climate indicators using machine learning. Subsequently, the key extreme climate indicators for the globe and main soybean producing countries are explored, and future soybean yield changes and variability are analyzed using the proposed hybrid model. The results show the coupled GEPIC and Random Forest (GEPIC+RF) model (R: 0.812, RMSD: 0.716 t/ha and rRMSD: 36.62%) significantly eliminated uncertainties and underestimation of climate extremes from the GEPIC model (R: 0.138, RMSD: 1.401 t/ha and rRMSD: 71.57%) compared to the other five hybrid models (R: 0.365–0.612, RMSD: 0.928–1.021 and rRMSD: 47.48–52.24%) during the historical period. For global soybean yield and those in Brazil and Argentina, low-temperature-related indices are the main restriction factors, whereas drought is the constraining factor in the USA and China, and combined drought–heat disaster in India. The GEPIC model would overestimate soybean yields by 13.40–27.23%. The GEPIC+RF model reduced uncertainty by 28.45–41.83% for the period of 2040–2099. Our results imply that extreme climate events will possibly cause more losses in soybean in the future than we have expected, which would help policymakers prepare for future agriculture risk and food security under climate change. Full article

This paper reviews the design of the international forest governance and policy, and analyses its impacts in addressing deforestation and forest degradation as global sustainability issues. Informed by literatures on international relations, regulatory governance of global commodity production, and international pathways of domestic influence, key arrangements are aggregated into six types, and mapped in terms of their main aims, instruments, and implementation mechanisms. Key analytical dimensions, such as the actors involved (state–private–mixed), the character of legal authority (legally binding–non-legally binding), and the geopolitical scope (global–transnational) helped to identify the potential and limitations of arrangements. They were assessed and compared in terms of their main pathways of influence such as international hard-law rules, cross-sectoral policy integration, non-legally binding norms and discourses, global market mechanisms, and direct access through capacity building. Our results reveal important challenges in the design and implementation, and in the pathways of influence, of the forest governance arrangements, including major inconsistencies with forest-adverse economic sectors. We conclude about the need for coherent international forest-related policy cooperation and integrative actions in agriculture, bioenergy, and mining to enhance the prospects of achieving the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Full article