Sustainability Excellence Associate (SEA) and Sustainability Excellence Professional (SEP) · International · Green Business Certification Inc., with the International Society of Sustainability Professionals as education partner
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersMaking agricultural supply chains sustainable and proving it: hotspot analysis, commodity-driven deforestation, traceability, certification, due-diligence laws such as the EU Deforestation Regulation, and smallholder inclusion. Agribusiness supply-chain management and the policy environment of agribusiness are in the Agribusiness track; this subject is about the environmental and social performance of the chain.
In the exams: Professional roles in agri-food sustainability; SEP (GBCI) strategy domains; GARP SCR nature-risk topics
How our questions for Sustainability Excellence Associate and Sustainability Excellence Professional spread across the units of Sustainable Agri-food Supply Chains & Deforestation-free Sourcing. Difficulty: 19 easy, 44 medium, 26 hard.
| Due-diligence regulation, including the EU Deforestation Regulation | 11 | |
| Human rights and labour in agricultural supply chains | 11 | |
| Commodity-driven deforestation and conversion | 10 | |
| Traceability systems and geolocation of plots | 9 | |
| Commodity sustainability standards and roundtables | 9 | |
| Monitoring with satellite data | 9 | |
| Supplier engagement and Scope 3 reduction programmes | 8 | |
| Smallholder inclusion and cost of compliance | 8 | |
| Hotspot analysis of agri-food supply chains | 7 | |
| Jurisdictional and landscape approaches | 7 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Under the EUDR, when must geolocation be provided as a polygon rather than a point?
B. For plots of more than four hectares used for commodities other than cattle
Plots above four hectares (for commodities other than cattle) need polygons; smaller plots may use a single point; cattle require geolocation of all establishments. Country-level information alone is insufficient.
Further reading: Regulation (EU) 2023/1115
Which data-quality check would most likely reveal a problem in smallholder plot polygons?
C. Overlaps with other plots or protected areas, or sizes implausible for stated output
Overlaps, intersections with protected areas, unclosed or self-intersecting shapes, and sizes inconsistent with yields signal errors or fraud. App collection, season and linked names are normal practice (with data protection).
Further reading: Traceability data-quality guidance
Why is a mass balance chain of custody not sufficient under the EUDR?
D. Mixing compliant products with those of unknown origin is not allowed
Mass balance allows physical mixing with non-verified material, but the EUDR requires every product to be traceable to compliant plots, so unknown origin cannot be mixed in. Segregated supply from multiple compliant plots is allowed; identity preservation from one farm is not required.
Further reading: Regulation (EU) 2023/1115
How does the EUDR differ fundamentally from the EU Timber Regulation it replaces?
A. It adds a deforestation-free requirement to legality and covers more commodities
The Timber Regulation targeted illegally harvested wood; the EUDR adds a deforestation-free requirement (legal or not), extends to seven commodities and derived products, and applies to both placing on the market and export. It keeps and strengthens due diligence.
Further reading: Regulation (EU) 2023/1115
Which of Sayer and colleagues' (2013) landscape principles stresses learning and adjustment over time?
D. Continual learning and adaptive management
The ten principles include continual learning and adaptive management, multiple stakeholders, multifunctionality, clarification of rights and responsibilities and participatory monitoring. The others contradict them.
Further reading: Sayer et al., PNAS 2013
Under good practice for land-sector accounting, how should removals from soil carbon programmes be reported?
A. Separately from emission reductions, with traceability and permanence safeguards
Removals should be reported separately, with monitoring, traceability to the company's value chain and provisions for reversals. Silent netting, ignoring soil carbon change or misclassifying them is poor practice.
Further reading: GHG Protocol land sector guidance; SBTi FLAG
According to ILO and UNICEF estimates for 2020, about what share of child labour worldwide is in agriculture?
B. About 70 %
Of an estimated 160 million children in child labour in 2020, about 70 % worked in agriculture, much of it on family farms.
Further reading: ILO and UNICEF 2021
Group certification costs a cooperative 18000 a year for 600 members. Each member sells 1.5 t as certified at a premium of 40 per tonne. How do cost and premium per member compare?
C. Cost 30, premium 60: premium exceeds cost
Cost per member = 18000/600 = 30; premium = 1.5 × 40 = 60. Forgetting the tonnage gives 40; multiplying cost by volume gives 1080; 27 is 40 ÷ 1.5.
What is the spatial resolution of the multispectral imagery from Landsat 8 and 9 commonly used for forest loss mapping?
B. 30 m
Landsat provides 30 m multispectral imagery with an archive from 1972; MODIS offers 250 m–1 km; centimetre imagery comes from drones or aircraft.
Further reading: USGS Landsat
How many 30 m Landsat pixels and 10 m Sentinel-2 pixels fit in a 4 ha plot?
A. About 44 and 400
30 m pixel = 900 m² = 0.09 ha → 4/0.09 ≈ 44; 10 m pixel = 100 m² = 0.01 ha → 400. 133 divides 4 ha by 0.03; 4 and 40 confuse units; the last option slips by ten.
Ten here, 89 in the app. The Laisha app has every practice question we have written to Sustainability Excellence Associate and Sustainability Excellence Professional in this subject, marked as you go, with timed papers, a jump-to-unanswered list and a certificate when you pass at 70 per cent.
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