Join Sheri Hinish, the Supply Chain Queen®, and co-host James George for Big Idea 7 of the Supply Chain Revolution podcast all about Forest Positive Supply Chains. This episode is part of the 10 Big Ideas to Transform Supply Chains for a Regenerative Future series and explores how global supply chains can evolve from deforestation free compliance to forest positive regeneration.

Featuring Sophie Beckham, Chief Sustainability Officer of International Paper and one of the world’s most respected leaders in forestry and biodiversity stewardship, this conversation reframes forests as living infrastructure that underpins long term business resilience, economic value, and climate stability.

Drawing on decades of experience across forest management, conservation partnerships, and large scale industrial operations, Sophie shares how supply chains that depend on forest systems must move beyond short term optimization toward multi generational regeneration. Forests are not interchangeable inputs. They are place based systems that require trust, data, collaboration, and long horizon thinking.

In this episode, you will learn why deforestation free is only the starting point, how forest positive supply chains actively enhance biodiversity, water quality, and ecosystem health, and why nature must be treated as a core stakeholder rather than an externality. The discussion spans landowner trust, regulatory uncertainty on EUDR, data and GIS enabled transparency, climate volatility, and the role of fiber based packaging in keeping forests standing.

Key themes include how forests function as living infrastructure that cannot be relocated, why regenerative forestry does not require economic tradeoffs, how early data driven interventions create positive outcomes on the ground, and why nature is the silent guarantor of all other forms of capital.

This is not a theoretical sustainability discussion. It is a practical, business grounded exploration of how supply chains can become regeneration catalysts that strengthen operations, protect assets, support communities, and restore biodiversity at scale.

Perfect for supply chain leaders, sustainability and ESG executives, risk and resilience leaders, operations and procurement teams, and anyone responsible for long term sourcing, infrastructure, or climate adaptation strategies.

What You Will Learn

• How supply chains can act as regeneration catalysts rather than degradation drivers

• Why forests demand longer planning horizons than conventional corporate cycles

• How biodiversity, carbon, water, and fiber outcomes are deeply interconnected in forest systems

• What it takes to integrate conservation science with commercial operations at scale

• How regenerative forestry strengthens business continuity, asset resilience, and brand trust