The Rainforest Alliance is a non-profit organization working to protect ecosystems and communities in over 60 countries. It certifies sustainable forestry and agriculture practices. For agriculture, it has certified over 1.3 million acres of farms producing coffee, tea, bananas and other crops. This includes 3% of the world's coffee and tea. The certification program evaluates farms' environmental management, worker treatment, resource conservation and other standards. Certified farms employ practices like maintaining wildlife habitats, reducing chemical use, conserving water and soil. The goal is to transform land use to benefit people, wildlife and the environment.

1. Rainforest Alliance
CertifiedTM

2. The Rainforest Alliance
An international, nonprofit environmental and sustainable
development organization.
Our mission is to protect ecosystems and the people and
wildlife that depend on them by transforming …
Land use practices Consumer Behaviour
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance Business practices 2

3. Rainforest Alliance programmes
Forestry
 Work with local and indigenous communities to produce more
efficiently and at higher quality for international markets.
 Certified 130 million acres in 60+countries
Agriculture
 3% of the world’s coffee
 3% of the world’s tea
 18% of the world’s bananas
 Cocoa,citrus, mangoes, pineapple, flowers, ferns, passion fruit,
etc
Tourism
 Improve sustainability of tourism operations
 Conserve local ecosystems
 Recycling, water conservation and waste management
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 3

4. A 22 years old organization with work in 63 countries. 300 staff based in 13 countries; an
operating budget of $30m; 35,000 members and $3bn in annual sales of Rainforest
Alliance CertifiedTM products. Almost 35,000 farms certified (1.3m acres); 130 million
acres of certified forests in 1,900 operations. Trained 1,500 tourism entrepreneurs in best
practices for sustainable tourism.

5. Certified Farms…
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 5

6. Economics Environment Ethics
A holistic view of integrated challenges
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 6

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The Credibility of the SAN Standard
(Sustainable Agriculture Network)
 Defined by tropical agricultural
organizations (SAN)
 Working towards ISO 65 accreditation
 Indicators developed by national
stakeholders
 Uses trained local auditors
 Compliant with ISEAL code of best practice
 Applicable to plantations and small
holdings
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 7

8. 8
The Principles of
Sustainable Agriculture
(The Sustainable Agriculture Network Standard)
Developed with 1 Social and Environmental
input from: Management System
2 Ecosystem Conservation
NGOs 3 Wildlife Protection
Industry 4 Water Conservation
Scientists 5 Fair Treatment and Good
Farmers Working Conditions for Workers
Farm workers 6 Occupational Health and Safety
Consumers 7 Community Relations
Government 8 Integrated Crop Management
9 Soil Management and
Conservation
10 Integrated Waste Management
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 8

9. Tree Cover
Non-certified farm Certified farm
No shade trees, or only scattered Abundant shade trees of varied species
and sizes, native species to conserve
shade of only one, or few tree soils, provide habitat for wildlife and
species, often exotic species of no use firewood, materials, etc. for workers and
to local wildlife neighbors. Conservation areas for
non-shade crops
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 9

10. Tea and conservation areas
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 10

11. Wildlife Protection
Non-certified farm Certified farm
Hunting, or extraction of orchids and Natural ecosystems and their
other flora commonplace– capturing flora and fauna well protected
wild animals for possession
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 11

12. © Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance
Finca Arroyo Negro
12

13. Waste Management
Non-certified farm Certified farm
Garbage properly disposed, or recycled,
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance coffee pulp used for fertilizer, workers
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use latrines

14. Pesticides
Non-certified farm Certified farm
Dangerous, “dirty dozen” pesticides in “Dirty dozen” pesticides banned,
use, excessive pesticide use, workers pesticide use cut to minimum, handled
unaware of dangers, no protective gear only by trained workers wearing
use, unsafe storage and transport protective gear, stored in locked sheds
far from housing
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 14

15. Soil Resources
Non-certified farm Certified farm
No soil conservation measures, heavy Erosion decreased with barriers,
reliance on chemical fertilizers and manual òr mechanical weeding,
herbicides soil enriched with compost
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 15

16. Water Resources
Non-certified farm Certified farm
Excessive water use, streams and Water conservation practiced,
rivers polluted with runoff from coffee watersheds protected, sewage and
mills, sewage and garbage, riverbanks mill wastewater channeled to septic
and watersheds deforested tanks and treatment lagoons,
riverbanks reforested
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 16

17. Occupational health
Non-certified Certified
Insufficient worker safety
regulations, no first-aid kits at
work sites, no ongoing medical
care Safe working conditions, first-aid kits
available, farm-supported clinics, or regular
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance doctor visits, health education
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18. Worker housing
Non-certified Certified
On farms and in forests, workers must have access to
dignified housing and sanitation facilities
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 18

19. Access to education
Certified farms must implement education programs for workers’ children.
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 19

20. Producer Training and
Certification Process
Diagnostic visit Inspection (SAAS or
Training (SL)
(SL) SAN)
 Annual Inspection
 3 Year Certification Cycle Continuous
improvement
On-going
Certification (SFC)
follow-up (SL)
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 20

21. Beyond Certification…
Climate Initiative
 Policy input on global level: post-
Kyoto, REDD
 Input into global standards
development
 Verification of Carbon projects: Plan
Vivo, Chicago Climate Exchange
 Linking carbon measurement with
sustainable agriculture standard
audits
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 21

22. Colombia Case Study
• 50% of specialty Colombian coffee is RA-certified,
bringing producers $2.4 million in premium in 2007.
• Productivity increases up to 20% or more
• Farms in Huila grew from 20 to 26 bags/hectare
• Increased number of butterfly and migratory bird species on
Rainforest Alliance Certified farms
• Water treatment technology installed
14.12.2009

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Transformation at Work
Study on sustainable forest management in
Maya Biosphere Reserve 1995- 2007:
 Deforestation in the 1,2 million acres of
FSC-certified concessions is 12 times lower
than the rate for the Reserve’s protected
area
 Substantially fewer forest fires in the FSC-
certified concessions (0.1% forest area
burnt annually) than in the core protected
area of the reserve (10.4%)
© Copyright
14.12.2009 2009. Rainforest Alliance Montag, 14. Dezember 2009

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Creating sustainable livelihoods in
Guatemala’s forest communities
 Sales of certified wood topped $4.7
million
 More than 2.6 million board feet of
certified wood and wood in the process
of certification sold
 More than $5.2 million invested by
partners in building new factories and
mills, and repairing and upgrading old
ones
 More than 2,000 temporary and
nearly 500 permanent jobs created
© Copyright
14.12.2009 2009. Rainforest Alliance Montag, 14. Dezember 2009

25. INDUSTRY TRENDS
• A 21st century green revolution that is
triple bottomline and provides sustainable
livelihoods (and minimizes contribution to
climate change).
• A focus on origin—understanding where
products come from and how they are grown
and produced.
• New connections between producers,
buyers and consumers. (Supply chain
management, direct consumer engagement)
14.12.2009

26. The Rainforest Alliance Path Toward a
21st Century Green Revolution
• Start with a locally relevant, comprehensive, holistic
standard and indicators (common language with
achievable goals).
• Provide a holistic set of benefits to producers, incl
ecosystem payments, and to industry, incl supply chain
sustainability and market recognition
• Design a system that will work to scale, supported by
the market throughout the supply chain
• Provide assurance to the buyer and to the consumer of
sustainable production and consumption.
• Work with government to provide financial incentives
and the financial sector to provide financing.
• Help market sustainability through the little green frog
and connect the consumer directly to the product!
14.12.2009

27. Thank You!
Rainforest Alliance Certified™
www.rainforest-alliance.org
© Copyright 2008 Rainforest Alliance 27