How CGIAR Climate Action research informed Colombia’s new deforestation-free livestock law

Colombia has adopted a national law to strengthen traceability and reduce deforestation across its livestock supply chain. Technical work led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT under the CGIAR Climate Action Program contributed to three of its provisions, connecting years of research and sector engagement with national policy. 

Colombia’s livestock sector supports producers, businesses and rural economies. It is also under growing pressure to prove that its meat and dairy products are not contributing to recent deforestation. 

On June 4, 2026, Colombia enacted Ley 2585 de 2026, which establishes instruments for a sustainable and deforestation-free livestock supply chain. The law seeks to connect agricultural traceability systems with forest monitoring, land registration and property information. 

Alliance of Bioversity teams contributed to the policy process through their leadership of the Meat and Milk Zero Deforestation Agreement Technical Secretariats and their work on traceability systems. Their input is reflected in three areas of the law. 

Giving zero-deforestation agreements a formal role 

Article 7 recognizes the Zero Deforestation Agreements for the meat and dairy supply chains as consultation bodies for implementing the law. 

These agreements bring together public agencies, businesses, producer organizations and other actors working to reduce deforestation. Under the law, they can help develop good practices and implementation measures. 

The Alliance leads the technical secretariats supporting both agreements, as the team participated in consultations and contributed proposals that informed Article 7. 

This gives an established collaborative process a formal role in implementing the law.  

During the public hearings on the draft bill, as well as in meetings with the Members of Parliament responsible for it, the technical secretariats of the agreements put forward proposals regarding the legislation, particularly with regard to the need to include zero-deforestation agreements as a legally recognised framework. The technical secretariats coordinated the drafting of the text with the relevant organisations. 

Connecting environmental standards with traceability 

Article 8 concerns Colombia’s environmental label for cattle and buffalo production, NTC 6550:2021 – Sello Ambiental Colombiano. 

The law requires the standard to support national zero-deforestation policies and connects it with information from animal-traceability systems, forest monitoring, cadastral records and property registration. 

In its capacity as technical secretariat, the Alliance coordinated the organisation of technical working groups with key stakeholders and made decisive contributions to the final text of the law to ensure the inclusion of zero deforestation criteria in the Colombian environmental label. Connecting these systems could help authorities and market actors assess whether livestock products meet zero-deforestation requirements. But its effectiveness will depend on how the standard is updated and applied. 

Creating routes to finance implementation 

Article 12 requires the government to establish financing routes for interoperable information systems and monitoring in areas facing active deforestation. It allows resources from the Fondo para la Vida y la Biodiversidad to support this work. 

Alongside the legislative process, CIAT has worked with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Colombia’s National Planning Department to standardize Proyectos Tipo for zero-deforestation traceability. 

These are project models that local authorities can adapt when applying for public funding. Once approved, they could make it easier to access royalties and other resources for traceability systems that support the law. 

The CIAT Biodiversity Alliance has been supporting the Ministry of Agriculture in standardising projects for the implementation of sustainable livestock traceability models and deforestation monitoring; this will enable access to public funding in municipalities that are hotspots for deforestation. ~ Ministerio de Agricultura  

Turning the law into practice 

The adoption of Ley 2585 is a significant policy outcome, but government institutions must now develop regulations and updated standards, connect information systems and support producers in meeting the requirements. The Alliance team’s next step is to help local authorities apply the standardized traceability projects once they are approved. 

Ley 2585 was developed through a Colombian legislative process involving government institutions, legislators, sector organizations and other partners. 

This work is carried out with support from CGIAR Climate Action. We would like to thank all funders who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund: https://www.cgiar.org/funders/