Over 120,000 cocoa farms in 11 countries have achieved Rainforest Alliance certification, covering an area of nearly 500,000 hectares (1.24 million acres), and with recent commitments by Unilever, Mars, Kraft and others to source Rainforest Alliance Certified™ cocoa, these numbers are almost certain to increase. The program’s exponential growth has prompted the Rainforest Alliance to take a step back and examine how certification has affected farmers’ livelihoods, families, communities and environments.
The Rainforest Alliance and Citi Foundation have hosted two Sustainable Value Chain Finance Workshops in order to establish a dialogue with agricultural value chain participants regarding ways to expand and improve the financing available for sustainable producers. In the second meeting of this group, held on January 30, 2012, the discussion was focused on risk mitigation in agricultural supply chains. Seventy-nine participants discussed the working hypothesis that adopting and certifying sustainable practices can reduce risk.
The Rainforest Alliance is helping people to transform their land-use practices by championing standards that promote the sustainable use of resources and conserve the planet’s biodiversity for future generations.
This study evaluates several key questions that will contribute to the debate about ecosystem services in a biological corridor, and sustainable management practices in coffee farming. I evaluated ecosystem services provided by coffee plantations, such as habitat for avian biodiversity, and contribution to the conservation of genetic diversity through the facilitation of movement corridors.
