The Rainforest Alliance and the Citi Foundation Sustainable Value Chain Finance Workshop held on April 20, 2011, in New York City, brought together actors in agriculture value chains -- representing buyers, exporters, retailers, producers, insurers, the financial sector, civil society and development partners. Although individual participants had begun to discuss sustainability and value chain finance in their own work, this was the first time that a diverse group of stakeholders from different parts of the value chain had gathered to discuss the topic.
In an effort to help coffee farmers conserve their forest landscapes, reduce emissions and receive payments for the climate services provided by their sustainably managed farms, the Rainforest Alliance has teamed up with local partners in Mexico as well as a coffee-industry leader on an innovative reforestation project in the state of Oaxaca.
With the launch of a sustainable standard for sugar production and the pilot certification of a plantation in El Salvador, a new chapter in the crop’s troubled history is being written. Crafted by a diverse group of locally based stakeholders in the tropics, the standard -- which was launched in April 2009 -- will ensure that economically viable sugarcane farming is compatible with biodiversity conservation and worker welfare.
