Rainforest Alliance

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rainforest Alliance is an NGO founded in 1987, whose mission is to protect ecosystems and the people and wildlife that depend on them by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior." With offices and partner groups in 10 countries worldwide, the Rainforest Alliance has on-the-ground programs that promote sustainable forestry, agriculture and tourism.

Contents 1 Rainforest Alliance Programs 1.1 Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Forestry 1.2 Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture 1.3 Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Tourism 1.4 The Learning Site 1.5 The Eco-Index 2 Criticism 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Rainforest Alliance Programs

[edit] Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Forestry

The organization pioneered forestry certification in 1989 with the launch of SmartWood, the world’s first sustainable forestry certification program. To encourage market-driven, environmentally and socially sound management of forests, tree farms and forest resources, a seal of approval is awarded to operations that follow the Forest Stewardship Council's strict standards for sustainability. Certification guarantees consumers that any forest product — whether it’s a guitar, a bookcase or raw lumber — comes from a forest or tree farm managed to conserve biodiversity and ensure the rights of workers and local people. To further promote sustainability, the Rainforest Alliance encourages the recycling of old wood and wood products by awarding a certified seal of approval to products made from reused, reclaimed and salvaged woods. From the cool forests of the northwestern United States to the lowland tropics of Papua New Guinea, the Rainforest Alliance has certified nearly 90 million acres of forest worldwide. Wood products that come from these certified sustainably managed forestlands bear the Rainforest Alliance Certified and Forest Stewardship Council seals.

[edit] Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture

Agriculture already occupies one quarter of the Earth’s lands and is a leading destroyer of wildlife habitat, a principle cause of flora and fauna extinction and the largest user of freshwater. To respond to these challenges, in 1990 the Rainforest Alliance developed guidelines that encourage banana producers to reduce the deleterious impacts of banana farming on workers and the environment. The first Chiquita-owned banana plantation in Costa Rica won Rainforest Alliance certification in 1994, and by 2000, all Chiquita-owned banana farms in Latin America had earned the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal. In 1994 the Alliance brought together leading conservation groups in five countries to form the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), with the Rainforest Alliance serving as secretariat. Today the SAN has certified more than 460,000 acres (180,000 hectares) of bananas, oranges, cut flowers and ferns, coffee and cacao. About 15% of all bananas in international trade come from farms that have earned the Rainforest Alliance certification seal, while nearly 25 million pounds of coffee is sold as Rainforest Alliance Certified.

Daniel Esty, professor of environmental science and policy at Yale University and Andrew Winston, director of the corporate environmental strategy project at Yale, point out that Chiquita spent $20 million over ten years to bring its farms up to Rainforest Alliance standards. Esty and Winston call the Chiquita - Rainforest Alliance partnership “one of the most strategic and effective in the world.” ^[1]

[edit] Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Tourism

Because responsible tourism can preserve biodiversity, protect habitat and promote economic growth in and near fragile ecosystems, the Rainforest Alliance launched a sustainable tourism program in 2000 and is now providing small- and medium-sized tourism businesses in Latin America with the training and tools they need to minimize their impacts on the environment and local communities. The Alliance is also working to integrate sustainable tourism certification programs in the Americas, through the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas.

[edit] The Learning Site

To encourage tomorrow’s consumers to be thoughtful and responsible global citizens, the Rainforest Alliance developed free, on-line curricula that offers complete lesson plans, stories (in English, Spanish and Portuguese), presentations, posters and articles about societies and flora and fauna in Latin America, plus on-the-ground conservation projects for kindergarten through eighth grade.

[edit] The Eco-Index

As a service the conservation community, the Rainforest Alliance developed the Eco-Index, a searchable database of more than 900 conservation projects in the Neotropics. All information is in English and Spanish, with information about projects in Brazil in Portuguese. Project profiles include summaries, achievements, anticipated achievements, donors, budget information and lessons learned. The Eco-Index also features interviews with conservation leaders.

[edit] Criticism

Rainforest Alliance sustainable agriculture certification, similarly to the Dutch certification scheme Utz Kapeh, has been called "Fairtrade light" by some critics as it does not offer producers minimum or guaranteed price. Ethical Corporation Magazine, in its January 2005 issue, compared the Fairtrade and the Rainforest Alliance Certification programs and concluded that coffee producers under the latter scheme received 21% less for their crop than under Fairtrade.^[2] This price difference makes sourcing Rainforest Alliance Certified products less expensive than Fairtrade. Companies such as Chiquita and Kraft interested in tapping the ethical market have therefore turned to Rainforest Alliance certification as an alternative.^[3]

There have been several points of contention regarding Rainforest Alliance standards in the past years: critics have pointed out for example how Rainforest Alliance standards do not require importers to offer crop pre-financing. The child labor issue has also proven itself controversial: opponents claim Rainforest Alliance standards lack strict guidelines on child labor while the organization argues no children under the age of 15 are permitted to be contracted as laborers, nor are children of any age permitted to do hard labor ^[4]. Moreover, issues have also been raised with standards implementation: Rainforest Alliance requires that 50 % of criteria in a certain standard be achieved, or 80% overall, as opposed to absolute minimums and progress requirements in the case of Fairtrade.^[5]

And finally, Rainforest Alliance certification has been criticized for allowing the use of the seal on coffee containing a minimum of 30% of certified coffee beans, as opposed to 100% in the case of Fairtrade.^[6] Alex Nicholls, professor of social entrepreneurship at Oxford University, called it "an easy option for companies looking for a “flash in the pan at a cheap price”.^[7]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

* Rainforest Alliance Official Web site